Confinement effects of ion tracks in ultrathin polymer films

R. PAPALEO; R. THOMAS; L. GUTIERREZ; DIEGO TRAMONTINA; E. BRINGA; P. GRANDE

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Año: 2015 vol. 114 p. 118302 - 118306

0031-9007

PRL Editors´ Suggestion: 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 sim40 nm, due to suppresion 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.