Fundamental aspects of defect production in solids

Irradiation of solids with energetic particles leads to the production of lattice defects in the form of Frenkel pairs, anti-site defects, defect clusters, dislocation loops and amorphous zones in the bulk and to sputtered atoms, adatoms, and craters near the surface. Predicting which types of damage prevail in specific situations has been a difficult chore; however, recent developments in computer simulations have greatly facilitated this task. This review highlights the results of these simulations and provides a fundamental understanding of the damage process in a variety of pure metals, intermetallic compounds, and pure Si. The special role of surfaces on damage production is a central focus of this work. In addition, recent experimental investigations of alloy disordering in Cu₃Au during 1 MeV He bombardment and STM imaging of single ion impacts on Pt will be reviewed to illustrate the level of accuracy that has now been achieved by these simulations.