Analysis of strain and disordering kinetics based on combined RBS-channeling and X-ray diffraction atomic-scale modelling

Ion beams delivered by particle accelerators are routinely used to emulate harsh, radiative environments and they also constitute the foundations of the modern microelectronics industry. To characterize irradiated materials, numerous experimental and computational techniques can be implemented, but it is extremely difficult to effectively intertwine them, and to compare the associated data. In the present work, we present an integrated, experimental and computational approach that uses a same set of molecular dynamics simulations to generate signals of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channelling condition and X-ray diffraction, with UO2 as a test-case material. From these signals, parameters to monitor the damage level are computed, compared and confronted with experimental data. Although the evolution of the strain and disordering kinetics obtained by simulations differ on an absolute scale from those obtained experimentally (a discrepancy inherent to the method used to generate the atomic-scale data), a very good relative agreement is obtained, which demonstrates the validity of the approach, hence providing a new tool for the fine study of irradiation effects in materials.