An electron microscope study of near-surface damage caused by Xe and Ne ion implantation in CuInSe2 single crystals

In this paper, we present the first SEM comparative study of the damage induced on the near-surface of CuInSe2 single crystals following implantation with ions of neon and xenon. We show that whilst neon ions have hardly affected the appearance of the CuInSe2 surface, xenon ions have led to preferential sputtering and to the formation of gas bubbles trapped near to the surface. After reaching their saturation levels these bubbles have led to gas release. The experimental results are correlated with TRIM calculations. © 1994.