Figure 4
BF-TEM images showing the annealing of a-SiO2 implanted with 40 keV Xe ions to 4 × 1016 ions.cm–2: (a) TEM images at 295 K showing dark Xe-precipitates and bright voids under different focussing conditions; (b) after 5 minutes of annealing at 973 K; (c) after 30 minutes of annealing at 973 K; (d) after 130 minutes of annealing at 973 K; (e,f) magnified images of the region highlighted by the rectangles in (a,b), respectively; (g) evolution of the precipitates as a function of the annealing time at 973 K. Defocus = ±2 µm, scale marker in (d) applies to (a–d) and the scale marker in (e,f) represents 100 nm.
