GaAs a model system to study the role of electron-phonon coupling on ionization stimulated damage recovery

Abstract The latent ion tracks observed in various materials after swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation is often explained in the framework of thermal spike model. Dominantly, SHIs deposit most of their energy via intense ionization leading to a very high density of localized electronic excitations. The energy transfer from electrons to lattice, within a time of electronic cooling ∼100 fs, is governed by the “electron-phonon coupling” parameter g. In this work, GaAs is used as a model system for studying ionization-stimulated damage recovery. Controlled damage is introduced using 300 keV Ar ion irradiation, followed by successive irradiation using 100 MeV Ag ions at ∼80 K by varying the fluence (ions/cm2). The thermal spike model is utilized to explain the observed recovery. Using the previously published value of g = 3.2 × 1012 W cm−3 K−1 for GaAs, the existing thermal spike code resulted in melting and quick quenching within ∼10 ps, suggesting the formation of SHI-induced tracks. However, experimental observations do not support the formation of tracks in pristine GaAs. Multiple simulation runs, for different g values, predict that for no melting in GaAs, g should be ≤ 1.4 × 1012 W cm−3 K−1. Finally, the 3D version of the thermal spike model is used to simulate the temperature profiles after an impact of SHI irradiation on an amorphous nano-zone embedded in a crystalline GaAs matrix. Simulations predict that the thermal spike in this zone is confined, indicating melt-flow at the crystalline-amorphous interface that can promote recovery. This lattice recovery is further supported by both RBS/C and TEM results.