Dose dependence of radiation damage in nano-structured amorphous SiOC/crystalline Fe composite

Abstract

Through examination of radiation tolerance properties of amorphous silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) and crystalline Fe composite to averaged damage levels, from approximately 8 to 30 displacements per atom (dpa), we demonstrated that the Fe/SiOC interface and the Fe/amorphous FexSiyOz interface act as efficient defect sinks and promote the recombination of vacancies and interstitials. For thick Fe/SiOC multilayers, a clear Fe/SiOC interface remained and no irradiation-induced mixing was observed even after 32 dpa. For thin Fe/SiOC multilayers, an amorphous FexSiyOz intermixed layer was observed to form at 8 dpa, but no further layer growth was observed for higher dpa levels.