Surface Damage of Silicon after Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation

In order to answer the long-standing question, if silicon surfaces can be damaged by swift heavy ions, a set-up to study ion-irradiation damage of reactive surfaces is presented. This set-up allows for the first time to avoid oxidization of the silicone surface during the experimental study. Scanning tunneling microscopy as well as low-energy electron diffraction was used to study the surfaces before and after irradiation. Silicon surfaces were prepared by flash-heating before irradiation with swift heavy ions (Xenon at 0.9 MeV/u). The targets stayed in ultra-high vacuum during preparation, irradiation and surface imaging. No surface damage was detected, at normal as well as at grazing incidence angle.