In-situ observation of surface blistering in silicon by deuterium and helium ion irradiation

TLDR: In this article, the deuterium (D+) and helium (He+) ion irradiation was applied to crystalline silicon surfaces and the size and density of the blisters were significantly reduced in the continuously electron-illuminated area.

Abstract: Blistering processes on crystalline silicon surfaces were observed in situ by grazing incidence electron microscopy (GIEM) under deuterium (D+) and helium (He+) ion irradiation. In D+ irradiation, the size and density of the blisters were significantly reduced in the continuously electron-illuminated area. This is attributed to the incident high-energy electrons, which suppress the formation of deuterium terminated cracks by electronic excitation effect. It was also found that irradiation at a higher ion flux give rise to catastrophic flaking before well-separated blisters were formed. In addition, the present study strongly suggests that the crack formation and propagation under D-irradiation start preferentially around the most heavily damaged depth rather than the peak projected range of the implanted D atoms.