Coulomb spike model of radiation damage in wide band-gap insulators

Costantini, J.-M.*; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko   

A novel Coulomb spike concept is applied to the radiation damage induced in LiF and SiO with about the same mass density (2.65 g cm) by Ni and Kr ions of 1.0-MeV/u energy for about the same electronic energy loss (10 MeV/um). The distribution of ionizations and electrostatic energy gained in the electric field by the ionized atoms is computed with the PHITS code for both targets. Further, the atomic collision cascades induced by these low energy hot ions of about 500 eV are simulated with the SRIM2013 code. It is found that melting is reached in a small volume for SiO due to the energy deposition in the subthreshold events of nuclear collisions induced by the Si and O ions. For LiF, the phonon contribution to the stopping power of the lighter Li and F ions is not sufficient to induce melting, even though the melting temperature is lower than for SiO. The formation of amorphous domains in SiO is likely after fast quenching of the small molten pockets, whereas only point defects may be formed in LiF.