radiation damage

"Radiation damage" is defined as structure deterioration of a specimen due to the irradiation of an electron beam. The primary radiation damage includes the knock-on damage and the ionization damage. In the knock-on damage process, an atom that suffers the collision by an incident electron is ejected from its lattice site, forming an interstitial atom and an atomic vacancy at the corresponding lattice site. In the ionization damage process, outer-shell electrons of an atom are ejected and the atom is ionized. In a subsequent relaxation process after the primary radiation damage process, particular lattice defects or amorphous structures are created. This process is called the secondary radiation damage process.