Use of radiation effects for a controlled change in the chemical composition and properties of materials by intentional addition or substitution of atoms of a certain kind

This study is a continuation of works 1–12] dealing with the field developed by the authors, namely, to widen the possibilities of radiation methods for a controlled change in the atomic composition and properties of thin-film materials. The effects under study serve as the basis for the following two methods: selective atom binding and selective atom substitution. Such changes in the atomic composition are induced by irradiation by mixed beams consisting of protons and other ions, the energy of which is sufficient for target atom displacements. The obtained experimental data demonstrate that the changes in the chemical composition of thin-film materials during irradiation by an ion beam of a complex composition take place according to mechanisms that differ radically from the well-known mechanisms controlling the corresponding chemical reactions in these materials. These radical changes are shown to be mainly caused by the accelerated ioninduced atomic displacements in an irradiated material during irradiation; that is, they have a purely radiation nature. The possibilities of the new methods for creating composite structures consisting of regions with a locally changed chemical composition and properties are demonstrated for a wide class of materials.