Swelling Phenomenon and Eatching Property of Rutile TiO₂ Irradiated by Swift Heavy Ions

Key words: 
• TiO₂ /
• swelling /
• chemical etching /
• electronic stopping power

Abstract: There appears volume swelling on the surface of the irradiated rutile TiO₂ crystal and the volume swelling is affected by the ion fluence and the electronic stopping power. To induce adequate irradiation damage for the chemical etching, the irradiation parameters must fulfill some requirement. There is minimum electronic stopping power for the chemical etching of the irradiated region in TiO₂ crystal， which is about 8. 2 keV/nm. If the ion fluence is below 1×10¹³ions/cm², the saturated etching depth of the irradiated region in TiO^₂crystal cannot be reached. The irradiation damage based on latent track formation frame and the theoretical linkage to the etching technique is investigated. It is hopeful to fabricate microand nanoscale structurce in rutile TiO₂ crystal by using the ion irradiation and chemical etching technique. 