Preferential bond formation and interstitial/vacancy annihilation rate drive atomic clustering in gallium ion sputtered compound materials

Zhenyu Ma; Xin Zhang; Pu Liu; Yong Deng; Wenyu Hu; Longqing Chen; Jun Zhu; Sen Chen; Zhengshang Wang; Yuechun Shi; Jian Ma; Xiaoyi Wang; Yang Qiu; Kun Zhang; Xudong Cui; Thomas Walther

arXiv · 2305.13746

Preferential bond formation and interstitial/vacancy annihilation rate drive atomic clustering in gallium ion sputtered compound materials

Zhenyu Ma·Xin Zhang·Pu Liu·Yong Deng·Wenyu Hu·Longqing Chen·Jun Zhu·Sen Chen·Zhengshang Wang·Yuechun Shi·Jian Ma·Xiaoyi Wang·Yang Qiu·Kun Zhang·Xudong Cui·Thomas Walther

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Abstract

The investigation of chemical reactions during the ion irradiation is a frontier for the study of the ion-material interaction. In order to derive the contribution of bond formation to chemistry of ion produced nanoclusters, the valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (VEELS) was exploited to investigate the Ga$^+$ ion damage in Al$_2$O$_3$, InP and InGaAs, where each target material has been shown to yield different process for altering the clustering of recoil atoms: metallic Ga, metallic In and InGaP clusters in Al$_2$O$_3$, InP and InGaAs respectively. Supporting simulations based on Monte Carlo and crystal orbital Hamiltonianindicate that the chemical constitution of cascade induced nano-precipitates is a result of a competition between interstitial/vacancy consumption rate and preferential bond formation.

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Zhenyu Ma, Xin Zhang, Pu Liu, Yong Deng, Wenyu Hu, Longqing Chen, Jun Zhu, Sen Chen, Zhengshang Wang, Yuechun Shi, Jian Ma, Xiaoyi Wang, Yang Qiu, Kun Zhang, Xudong Cui, Thomas Walther. 2023-05-23. Preferential bond formation and interstitial/vacancy annihilation rate drive atomic clustering in gallium ion sputtered compound materials. https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.13746

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