Fig. 2: Microscope images of silicon samples after exposure to a laser-ion pulse.
From: Defect engineering of silicon with ion pulses from laser acceleration
Optical, (a), and helium ion microscope (HIM) images, (b) and (c), of a silicon (111) sample that had been exposed to one laser ion pulse. a) The optical image shows areas with no surface damage (I) adjacent to areas with tessellation patterns (II), (III) and exfoliation (IV). The insert in b) shows the thickness of an exfoliated layer of 4.5 μm. c Shows an area where a silicon tile started to peel off in response to the local ion flux (III). At the top of the exfoliating tile, re-solidified silicon that melted appears to have emerged from under the tile. Note that the HIM images show the key features of the regions labeled (III), (IV) but are not of the exact same regions marked in the optical image. Region (I) in a) and (c) is representative of the unexposed silicon, which showed no features in HIM or optical microscopy.
