Browsing by Subject "irradiation"

In this thesis, sputtering of several low- and high-index tungsten surface crystal directions are investigated. The molecular dynamics study is conducted using the primary knock-on atom method, which allows for an equal energy deposition for all surface orientations. The energy is introduced into the system on two different depths, on the surface and on a depth of 1 nm. Additionally to the sputtering yield of each surface orientation, the underlying sputtering process is investigated. Amorphous target materials are often used to compare sputtering yields of polycrystalline materials with simulations. Therefore, an amorphous surface is also investigated to compare it's sputtering yield and process with crystalline surface orientations. When the primary knock-on atom was placed on the surface all surface orientations had a cosine shaped angular distribution with little variation in the sputtering yield for most of the surface orientations. Linear collision sequences were observed to have a large impact on the sputtering yield when the energy was introduced deeper inside the material. In these linear collision sequences the recoils are traveling along the most close packed atom rows in the material. The distance from the origin of the collision cascade to the surface in the direction of the most close packed row is therefore crucial for the sputtering yield of the surface. Surface directions with high angles between this direction and the surface normal hence show a reduction in the sputtering yield. The amorphous material had a little lower sputtering yield than the crystalline materials when the primary knock-on atoms was placed on the surface whereas the difference rose into several orders of magnitude when the energy was given at 1 nm. It is impossible for linear collision sequences to propagate long distances in the amorphous material and therefore the angular distribution in both cases is cosine shaped. The amorphous material has no long range order and was therefore unable to reproduce the linear collision sequences, which are characteristic for the crystalline materials. The difference in the sputtering yield was hence up to several orders of magnitude as a result when the energy was introduced at 1 nm depth.

Ga2O3 has been found to exhibit excellent radiation hardness properties, making it an ideal candidate for use in a variety of applications that involve exposure to ionizing radiation, such as in space exploration, nuclear power generation, and medical imaging. Understanding the behaviour of Ga2O3 under irradiation is therefore crucial for optimizing its performance in these applications and ensuring their safe and efficient operation. There are five commonly identified polymorphs of Ga2O3 , namely, β, α, γ, δ and structures, among these phases, β-Ga2O3 is the most stable crystal structure and has attracted majority of the recent attention. In this thesis, we used molecular dynamic simulations with the newly developed machine learned Gaussian approximation potentials to investigate the radiation damage in β-Ga2O3 . We inspected the gradual structural change in β-Ga2O3 lattice with increase doses of Frenkel pairs implantations. The results revealed that O-Frenkel pairs have a strong tendency to recombine and return to their original sublattice sites. When Ga- and O-Frenkel pairs are implanted to the same cell, the crystal structure was damaged and converted to an amorphous phase at low doses. However, the accumulation of pure Ga-Frenkel pairs in the simulation cells might induce a transition of β to γ-Ga, while O sublattice remains FCC crystal structure, which theoretically demonstrated the recent experiments finding that β- Ga2O3 transfers to the γ phase following ion implantation. To gain a better understanding of the natural behaviour of β-Ga2O3 under irradiation, we utilized collision cascade simulations. The results revealed that O sublattice in the β-Ga2O3 lattice is robust and less susceptible to damage, despite O atoms having higher mobility. The collision and recrystallization process resulted in a greater accumulation of Ga defects than O defects, regardless of PKA atom type. These further revealed that displaced Ga ion hard to recombine to β- Ga lattice, while the FCC stacking of the O sublattice has very strong tendency to recovery. Our theoretical models on the radiation damage of β-Ga2O3 provide insight into the mechanisms underlying defect generation and recovery during experiment ion implantation, which has significant implications for improving Ga2O3 radiation tolerance, as well as optimizing its electronic and optical properties.