Ion irradiation damage on tin side surface of float glass

Changes in the surface morphology and in-depth density variation in two surfaces of a float glass viz. the tin side and non-tin side surface, are investigated after 100 keV Ar ion irradiation. In the tin side surface, the irradiation caused a drastic change in density and surface roughness, whereas the other side (non-tin side surface) remained almost unaffected. Roughness of the tin side increases from 8 Å to 41 Å. Surface density also modified significantly with a redistribution of surface impurities. Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the displacement of tin and Fe impurities are responsible for the surface damage, which are experimentally examined by employing the total reflection X-ray fluorescence technique. Morphological and density changes are analyzed by grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy techniques. Subsequent changes in surface morphology of float glass by ion irradiation are explained.