A study on the consequence of swift heavy ion irradiation of Zn–silica nanocomposite thin films: electronic sputtering

• Compesh Pannu,
• Udai B. Singh,
• Dinesh. C. Agarwal,
• Saif A. Khan,
• Sunil Ojha,
• Ramesh Chandra,
• Hiro Amekura,
• Debdulal Kabiraj and
• Devesh. K. Avasthi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1691–1698, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.179

• film. The process of size-dependent electronic sputtering of Zn is explained on the basis of an inelastic thermal spike model. The possibility of direct cluster emission is explained by pressure spike built inside the track, initiated by a temperature spike. Keywords: ion irradiation; nanocomposites

• ; pressure spike; Rutherford backscattering spectrometry; transmission electron microscopy; Introduction Metal nanoparticles are currently receiving broad scientific and technological interest due to their unusual physical properties which are different from the bulk materials. Properties such as surface

• . Ejection of direct clusters is explained on the basis of pressure spike generated inside the ion track. During SHI irradiation, the energy deposited by a fast ion leads to the creation of a cylindrical track along its path. The difference in pressure within the track and outside the track results in a