Stacking-fault imaging using transmission ion channeling

This paper gives a detailed analysis of the necessary conditions for observing stacking faults using transmission ion channeling. It is shown that transmission ion channeling images of individual stacking faults at least 10 {μ}m below the surface of a 40-{μ}m-thick silicon crystal can be produced by mapping the mean energy loss of channeled 3-MeV protons. The observed image contrast depends on whether axial or planar alignment is used and, in planar alignment, increases on going from {100} to {110} to {111} planes. The criteria under which faults do not disturb the channeling process are considered. It is shown that for channeling in planes with reciprocal lattice vector g, faults with translation vector R are invisible if g{·}R is equal to zero or an integer. The use of backscattered rather than transmitted ions for image production is discussed.