Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation Of Crystalline Semiconductors

In this chapter the structural modification of crystalline semiconductors due to swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation induced high electronic excitation is discussed. After a short description of the energy deposition processes, experimental results on ion track and damage formation in various semiconductors are presented. The results highlight the different susceptibility of the materials to SHI induced damage formation and the existence of material specific threshold values of the electronic energy deposition for track formation. The results are discussed in the framework of existing models and it is shown that the experimental data can be well described using an extended inelastic thermal spike model.