Swift heavy ion irradiation effects in nanocrystalline gold

Chimi, Yasuhiro; Iwase, Akihiro*; Ishikawa, Norito   ; Kobiyama, Mamoru*; Inami, Takashi*; Kambara, Tadashi*; Okuda, Shigeo*

We have studied effects of irradiation with energetic particles on defect accumulation in nanocrystalline gold (nano-Au). The specimens of nano-Au foil (3-5 m thickness) with various grain sizes (23-156 nm) are prepared by the gas deposition method and subsequent thermal annealings. Irradiations of the specimens with 60-MeV C ions, 3.54-GeV Xe ions or 2.0-MeV electrons are performed at low temperature. The defect accumulation behavior is observed by measuring the electrical resistivity change during irradiation. Through an analysis of defect accumulation behavior, cross-sections for defect production, , and annihilation, , in nano-Au increase monotonically as the grain size decreases. These results are considered to be caused by the existence of a large volume fraction of the regions near grain boundaries in nano-Au where the threshold energy for atomic displacements, E, becomes lower than in polycrystalline gold. The possibility of electronic excitation effects in nano-Au is also discussed.