In situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Ion Irradiation Studies at Orsay

Crucial features of materials evolution due to ion beam irradiation are often revealed only through studies of process dynamics. We review some significant examples of such experiments performed over the last 25 years with the Orsay in situ facility: a transmission electron microscope setup (with temperature stages operating between 4 and 1000 K) on a medium energy (3–570 keV) ion beam line. New results on nanocavity evolution and metal silicide nanoprecipitates in Si are presented briefly.We show that CoSi₂ nanoprecipitate growth is mainly due to the constant Co atom contribution from the ion beam, and CoSi₂ platelet growth is the result of a three-dimensional to two-dimensional growth mode transition.