Ion-beam induced amorphization and dynamic epitaxial recrystallization in alpha-quartz

We report on the evaluation of ion-beam induced damage in alpha-quartz and its dynamic annealing behavior in the temperature range between 80 and 1050 K using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channeling geometry. The results illustrate that the critical temperature for inhibiting amorphizat ion during irradiation is about T-c approximate to 940 K. The critical flue nce phi(c) for amorphization is independent of the temperature up to 550 K, but strongly increases at higher temperatures. The activation energy for t he diffusion of defects in the collision cascade or at the amorphous/crysta lline interface is found to be 0.28+/-0.02 eV. The dynamic annealing mechan ism is explained by the vacancy out-diffusion model of Morehead and Crowder . (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)03006-6].