HEAVY ION TRACK DIAMETERS IN MICA STUDIED WITH SCANNING FORCE MICROSCOPE

In the present study, the scanning force microscope (SFM) was employed to measure the heavy ion track diameters in mica and was operated in the lateral-force mode with different loading forces. The mica samples were irradiated with Se, Au, Pb and Zn ions with a kinetic energy of 11.4 MeV/u at the UNILAC of GSI. The measured average track diameter increased slowly with increasing loading force between the SFM tip and sample. The experimental data pointed out that the track diameter versus loading force could be fitted by a linear function both for Se and Au ion species and the slopes of the fitted lines were nearly the same. By extrapolating to zero loading force, the intrinsic diameters of the ion tracks were obtained. A possible mechanism for the observations was discussed.