Present status of radiation damage in dielectric materials: role of electronic excitation

May 18-21 May 2009

Residencia “La Cristalera”, Miraflores de la Sierra, Madrid

Studies of damage in dielectric materials, and related device degradation, due to charged particle irradiation provide key information to help ensure the reliability of many present and emerging technologies. These include, among others, nuclear fission and fusion installations, storage of radioactive waste, lifetime of optical, electronic, and optoelectronic components in space missions, ion-induced micro- and nano-patterning of materials, and even hadron therapy in medicine.  To date it has generally been assumed that for ion bombarded dielectric materials, the  main damage mechanism is due to elastic nuclear collisions. Recently however, new  data for dielectric and semiconductor materials is highlighting the role played by  electronic excitation as a significant and even dominant damage mechanism. This is  particularly so for high energy heavy ions (SHI) where the electronic stopping power  may overwhelm the nuclear stopping power.  The objective of the workshop is to provide a forum to discuss the recent progress and to present status in the understanding of such electronic excitation damage and envisage new directions of research. The meeting is being jointly organized by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the Center for Microanalysis of Materials (CMAM), CIEMAT, and CSIC, institutions actively engaged to this novel field.  The workshop, sponsored by the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales Nicolás Cabrera, will be held from Monday May 18 to Thursday May 21. Participants are expected to arrive on Sunday 17 for dinner and depart on Thursday 21 after lunch. The Residence La Cristalera is located in a wonderful landscape surrounded by mountains and forests at 60 km from Madrid

Organizing Committee:
A. Climent (CMAM-UAM-INC)
F. Agulló-López (CMAM-UAM-INC)
E. Hodgson (CIEMAT)
J. Olivares (CSIC-CMAM)

Secretariat
Dr. Maria Dolores Ynsa (CMAM) will act as secretary of the workshop

Language : The language of the workshop will be English.

Participants : Graduate students, post-docs, and active scientists and engineers from Spain and abroad are encouraged to attend the workshop. The total number of participants is limited to about 40. Prominent international scientists will be invited to deliver lectures 50 min. lectures to introduce the main topics of the workshop.

A preliminary list of speakers is:
P.D. Townsend (Sussex, UK). Ion irradiation vs ion implantation
M. Toulemonde (Ganil, France). Electronic heavy-ion damage in materials : Thermal spike models
M. Perlado (UPM, Madrid). Difficulties and advances in the modelling of radiation damage in dielectric materials
B. Benoit (SCKCEN Mol, Belgium). A representative case: Radiation damage in silica materials
P. Esquinazi (Leipzig). The influence of ion irradiation on the magnetic properties of carbon-based and oxide materials
M. Bianconi (Bologna, Italy). Integrated optics devices by high-energy heavy-ion irradiation
J. Solis (Instituto de Óptica-CSIC, Madrid). Spatial and temporal characterization of the interaction dynamics during fs-laser processing of dielectric materials

Complementary 30 minute keynote seminars will be delivered by scientists from different Spanish institutions that are active in the field.

The registration fee will be 290 euros covering full board accommodation. A few fellowships for graduate students would be available depending on financing. Applications can be made by e-mail to Maria Dolores Ynsa (m.ynsa@uam.es) before 15 February 2009, indicating academic status and working center. Accepted applications will be communicated by March 1. A detailed scientific program will be, then, sent to the participants.