Complementary use of ERDA and RBS/C for the determination of implanted atom and damage distributions in spinel

Crystalline oxide ceramics (particularly, zirconia and spinel) are promising matrices for nuclear waste immobilization and/or transmutation. The behavior of implanted ions and of radiation damage is a very important issue in the qualification of nuclear matrices. Ion beams provide very efficient tools for such an evaluation. This paper presents the results obtained for spinel single crystals implanted with He and Ar ions at fluences of 1017 and 2 × 1016 cm−2, respectively. He and Ar depth profiles were measured by ERDA using high-energy Cu ions. The Ar depth profile was also determined by RBS. The evaluation of the amount of radiation damage induced in Al, Mg and O sublattices of spinel single crystals by ion implantation was done using both a classical analytical procedure and Monte-Carlo simulations of channeling data. The disorder depth profiles using the two methods are compared and correlated with He and Ar depth profiles.