Extending the inelastic thermal spike model for semiconductors and insulators

The inelastic thermal spike framework was extended to incorporate an additional balance equation for the carrier density. Temporal and spatial evolution of carrier density, electronic and lattice temperatures were solved for silicon using a finite difference method. Calculated track radii for a range of electronic stopping powers are presented. The model allows us to fit the electron-phonon coupling to experimental data of amorphised track radii. We compare the methodology of this framework to an earlier inelastic thermal spike model, which is based on the two-temperature model for non-equilibrium processes in metals, and discuss its contribution to the understanding of microscopic processes following a swift ion irradiation event in band gap materials. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.