Damage creation in Lithium Fluoride thin films induced by swift heavy ions

Lithium Fluoride (LiF) thin films were irradiated with 120 MeV Ag ions at various ion fluences for online monitoring of sputtering process. Influence of ion charge state, irradiation temperature and applied ion fluence on electronic sputtering is studied by online elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). Observations showed that the sputtering yield is higher as compared to the results available for bulk material. Detailed analysis of sputtering data showed that the higher charge state of the ion and higher irradiation temperature result in higher sputtering yield. On the other hand, there is a decrease in the sputtering yield with ion fluence. Track radius was also deduced from the data of fluence versus sputter yield and it was found to be 3.7 nm.