ATOMIC DISPLACEMENT PROCESSES IN ION-IRRADIATED MATERIALS.

The understanding of atomic displacement processes in ion irradiated materials has reached a high level of sophistication. It is now possible to calculate ion ranges and damage distributions with good accuracy. Similarly, the number of Frenkel pairs produced by an irradiation can also be calculated with some reliability. As demonstrated, however, this is just the beginning to understanding how a material will respond to ion irradiation or implantation. It is essential to understand the actual displacement processes in energetic displacement cascades and the evolution of the microstructure of an irradiated material as a function of fluence and temperature. Most of the knowledge on these topics has been obtained in pure metals and damage processes may be different in alloys. Only recently, with the growing interest in ion-beam modification of materials, have basic studies of displacement process been extended to more complicated materials.