Observation of grain growth in swift heavy ion irradiated NiO thin films

Abstract

NiO thin films grown on Si(100) substrates by electron beam evaporation, were sintered at 500 °C and 700 °C. The films were irradiated with 120 MeV Au9+ ions. Irradiation had different effects depending upon the initial microstructure of the films. Irradiation of the films at a fluence of 3 × 1011 ions cm-2 leads to grain growth for the films sintered at 500 °C and grain fragmentation for the films sintered at 700 °C. At still higher fluences of irradiation, grain size in 500 °C sintered film decreased, but the same improved in 700 °C sintered film. Associated with the grain size, texturing of the films was also shown to undergo significant modifications under irradiation. © 2010 IACS.