ELECTRONIC SLOWING DOWN-INDUCED DIMENSIONAL CHANGES IN AMORPHOUS FE85B15

Fe85B15 amorphous ribbons were irradiated at a temperature of 80 K wit h GeV Pb ions. In the considered electronic slowing down range ((dE/dx )(e) = 45 keV/nm), both resistivity variation and anisotropic growth a re induced, Several samples with different tilt angles to the beam axi s were irradiated at the same time which allowed us to derive informat ion on both resistivity and dimensional variations from in situ resist ance measurements. It is shown that (i) the growth starts with a non z ero rate and (ii) an additional resistance variation occurs at high fl uence, The growth features which are at variance with the previously r eported behaviour of dimensional variations induced at lower electroni c slowing down values are discussed at the light of a recent model. Th e influence of preirradiation and subsequent annealing on the growth r ate is also considered.