Surface morphology of ion-beam-irradiated rutile single crystals

Ion-beam-induced structural changes in rutile (TiO2) have been examined in detail using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Single crystals of rut ile with (100) orientation were irradiated with 360 keV Xe ions at room tem perature to a fluence of 4x10(15)/cm(2). In addition to a buried damage lay er induced by projectile ions, a damage layer was formed near the surface ( thickness about 10 nm). Nanobeam electron diffraction measurements and high -resolution TEM observations revealed that the surface damage layer consist s of rutile crystallites with different orientations compared to the origin al single crystal. We discuss damage recovery processes in ion irradiated r utile within the context of our results as well as previous observations. ( C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(01)01401-2].