Atomic resolution study of displacement cascades in ion-irradiated platinum

The field-ion microscope technique has been employed to study, on an atomic scale, the vacancy structure of individual depleted zones (DZs) in platinum specimens which had been created by 20-keV Kr⁺ ions. DZs are the final quiescent state of collision cascades. The irradiations were performed in situ at 60 K and the specimens were examined at this temperature by the pulse field-evaporation technique. The following experimental quantities were determined for each DZ: (a) the absolute number of vacancies (ν); (b) the average diameter; (c) the average vacancy concentration based on ν and the actual volume filled by the vacancies; (d) the radial distribution function of the vacancies out to the ninth nearest-neighbor; (e) the fraction of first-nearest-neighbor vacancies in clusters of size n; (f) the average depth (L) from the irradiated surface, measured along a direction parallel to the incident ion beam, at which each DZ was detected and its direction of elongation; and (g) the sputtering yield based on the number of vacancies detected in the near-surface region (<5 Å thick). All of the measured quantities are compared with corresponding quantities extracted from either an analytical model or a Monte Carlo computer code (Transport of Ions in Matter - trim) of radiation damage. We demonstrate that it is possible to transform a microscopic spatial distribution of vacancies to a continuous radiation damage profile with atomic resolution.