Craters produced on metals by single ion impacts.

Single ion impacts have been observed using in-situ transmission electron microscopy during irradiation. In addition to internal defects, single-ion impacts create surface craters as large as 12 nm on In, Ag, Pb and Au. Crater formation rates have been determined from video recordings with a time-resolution of 33 milliseconds. The cratering rate for Xe ions increases linearly with increasing target mass density above a threshold density of approximately 7 gm/cm{sup 3}. The cratering rate increases as the ion mass is increased. These results suggest that cratering requires a high energy-density, near-surface displacement cascade. TRIM calculations have been made in an effort to establish a near-surface energy-density criterion for cratering