Microstructure damage of titanium films by irradiation with fission fragments

Radiation damage caused by fission fragments to metal surfaces is an important research topic. Thin titanium foils were irradiated with a continuous wave beam of 132 MeV 132Xe+29 at the current intensity of 2 pnA. Pre- and post-irradiated surface topologies were investigated using atomic force microscopy and the observed defects were quantified by root mean square roughness, depth profile of the disordered zones, size and areal density of the voids, and discussed as a function of the applied fluencies (1–9) × 1013 Xe/cm2. The first ellipsoidal dislocation loops appeared at the fluence of 3.0 × 1013 Xe/cm2 with the areal density of 1.56 × 106/cm2 that increased to 2.0 × 107 cm−2 when the dose rose to 9.0 × 1013 Xe/cm2. At this point also the first dislocation lines with the density of 1.3 × 107 cm−2 were seen. Our results suggest that the fission fragments might maximize large voids and dislocations and increase the degradation in depth resolution.