Probing the properties of amorphous semiconductors with swift heavy ion irradiation and synchrotron radiation

Amorphous semiconductors have widespread use in photovoltaics, flat panel displays, etc. We now propose a novel study of amorphous semiconductor materials properties, including plastic flow and phase transformations, probed with swift heavy ion irradiation and synchrotron radiation. The former is a unique means of depositing sufficient ion energy to produce a molten ion track and is already exploited to fabricate nanopore structures. The latter makes extensive use of the Australian Synchrotron in an innovative, world-leading manner. With this combination of processing and characterisation techniques, we seek a fundamental scientific understanding of amorphous semiconductors to better enable their effective technological application.