Confinement Effects of Ion Tracks in Ultrathin Polymer Films

RM Papaleo and R Thomaz and LI Gutierres and VM de Menezes and D Severin and C Trautmann and D Tramontina and EM Bringa and PL Grande, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 114, 118302 (2015).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.118302

We show direct experimental evidence that radiation effects produced by single MeV heavy ions on a polymer surface are weakened when the length of the ion track in the material is confined into layers of a few tens of nanometers. Deviation from the bulk (thick film) behavior of ion- induced craters starts at a critical thickness as large as similar to 40 nm, due to suppression of long-range additive effects of excited atoms along the track. Good agreement was found between the experimental results, molecular dynamic simulations, and an analytical model.

Return to Publications page