Point Defect Studies in Gold by Electron Irradiation at Low Temperatures. II. Resistivity Recovery Spectrum from 15 to 240°K

We have studied the resistivity recovery of 99.999% pure gold after 2-MeV electron irradiation near 13^∘{}K. Combining our observations on the defect-concentration dependence of the recovery with some simple calculations and other relevant experimental results, we have reached the following conclusions. In the temperature range from 15 to 50^∘{}K, the recovery consists of a spectrum of processes characterized by first-order kinetics, and therefore no random vacancy-interstitial recombination with a measurable resistivity decrease takes place. In the temperature range from 50 to 240^∘{}K, the recovery is almost continuous; long-range migration of defects is not likely. We attribute most of the resistivity recovery of gold between 15 and 240^∘{}K after electron irradiation to the nonrandom recombination of Frenkel pairs.