An examination of the factors which determine the thermal spike lifetime of a displacement cascade

The thermal spike phase of a displacement cascade is though to be of fundamental importance to a number of issues in radiation effects. For example, the formation of stable vacancy clusters and the efficiency of ion mixing are thought to be directly controlled by the duration of the liquid-like state during the thermal spike. A number of factors have been proposed to be of significance to the lifetime of the thermal spike. For example, materials which have a high melting temperature, or which exhibit strong electron-phonon coupling, which provides an efficient method of energy transport to the surrounding material, are expected have short lifetimes. The authors have examined these factors in detail and demonstrated that, in both elemental metals and alloys, electron-phonon coupling provides the most consistent explanation for variations in the thermal spike lifetime and, hence, the efficiency of ion mixing and the number of stable vacancy defect clusters formed