A note on evaporation from heated spikes

Charge state dependent energy deposition by ion impact

We report on a measurement of craters in thin dielectric films formed by Xe(Q+) (26 ≤ Q ≤ 44) projectiles. Tunnel junction devices with ion-irradiated barriers were used to amplify the effect of charge-dependent cratering through the exponential dependence of tunneling conductance on barrier thickness. Electrical conductance of a crater σ(c)(Q) increased by 4 orders of magnitude (7.9 × 10(-4) μS to 6.1 μS) as Q increased, corresponding to crater depths ranging from 2 to 11 Å. By employing a heated spike model, we determine that the energy required to produce the craters spans from 8 to 25 keV over the investigated charge states. Considering energy from preequilibrium nuclear and electronic stopping as well as neutralization, we find that at least (27 ± 2)% of available projectile neutralization energy is deposited into the thin film during impact.

Direct evidence for projectile charge-state dependent crater formation due to fast ions

We report on craters formed by individual 3 MeV/u Au (q(ini)+) ions of selected incident charge states q_(ini) penetrating thin layers of poly(methyl methacrylate). Holes and raised regions are formed around the region of the impact, with sizes that depend strongly and differently on q_(ini). Variation of q_(ini) of the film thickness and of the angle of incidence allows us to extract information about the depth of origin contributing to different crater features.