Molecular dynamics simulation of defect production in collision cascades in zircon

Defect production in collision cascades in zircon has been examined by molecular dynamics simulations using a partial charge model combined with the Ziegler-Biersack-Littmark potential. U, Zr, Si and O recoils with energies ranging from 250 eV to 5 keV were simulated in the NVE ensemble. To obtain good statistics, 5-10 cascades in randomly chosen directions were simulated for each ion and energy. The damage consists of mainly Si and O Frenkel pairs, a smaller number of Zr Frenkel pairs, and Zr on Si antisite defects. Defect production, interstitial clustering, ion beam mixing and Si-O-Si polymerization increase with PKA mass and energy.