On the production and annealing of bombardment induced surface damage on a nickel (110) surface

The production and annealing of damage on a nickel (110) surface has been studied with low energy ion scattering (LEIS) and the results are discussed and compared with previously reported LEED, LEIS and TEM results. It is concluded that the production of damage on crystal surfaces which remain crystalline under ion bombardment may be explained in terms of the nucleation and growth of vacancy clusters. It is found that the damage, as observed by ion scattering, saturates at a level which does not depend on such bombardment conditions as temperature or ion species. The experiments indicate that at saturation, the surface is in a state of dynamic equilibrium in which the rates of creation and loss of surface pits are equal. Expressions are derived to explain both the present and previously reported ion scattering results. The annealing measurements show that two different anneal processes can be distinguished.