Influence of electronic energy deposition on the structural modification of swift heavy-ion-irradiated amorphous germanium layers

Swift heavy-ion (SHI) irradiation of amorphous germanium (a-Ge) layers leads to a strong volume expansion accompanied by a nonsaturating irreversible plastic deformation (ion hammering), which are consequences of the high local electronic energy deposition within the region of the a-Ge layer. We present a detailed study of the influence of SHI irradiation parameters on the effect of plastic deformation and structural modification. Specially prepared a-Ge layers were irradiated using two SHI energies and different angles of incidence, thus resulting in a variation of the electronic energy deposition per depth ε_e between 14.0 and 38.6 keV nm^-1. For all irradiation parameters used a strong swelling of the irradiated material was observed, which is caused by the formation and growth of randomly distributed voids, leading to a gradual transformation of the amorphous layer into a sponge-like porous structure as established by cross-section scanning electron microscopy investigations. The swelling depends linearly on the ion fluence and on the value of ε_e, thus clearly demonstrating that the structural changes are determined solely by the electronic energy deposited within the amorphous layer. Plastic deformation shows a superlinear dependence on the ion fluence due to the simultaneous volume expansion. This influence of structural modification on plastic deformation is described by a simple approach, thus allowing estimation of the deformation yield. With these results the threshold values of the electronic energy deposition for the onset of both structural modification and plastic deformation due to SHI irradiation are determined. Furthermore, based on these results, the longstanding question concerning the reason for the structural modification observed in SHI-irradiated crystalline Ge is answered.