Discontinuous ion tracks on silicon oxide on silicon surfaces after grazing-angle heavy ion irradiation

Thin silicon oxide layers on silicon have been characterized by atomic force microscopy before and after swift heavy ion irradiation with 0.63MeV∕u Pb ions at grazing angle of incidence. In this letter, the authors report the observation of extended intermittent tracks at the silicon oxide (SiO2) surface. As a result, this raises the question of the discontinuous energy deposition at the nanometric scale. This experimental overlook is of major interest for nanostructuring and surface nanoprocessing as well as with regard to reliability of electronic components and systems.