High resolution electron microscopy of tracks in solids

The damage induced by heavy ion irradiation in a wide palette of materials, extending from metals to insulators, is presented. The damage creation and the track morphology have been investigated by electron microscopy and especially HRTEM when available. It is shown that heavy ion irradiation in the electronic stopping power regime is a very efficient tool to amorphize the solids. But the sensitivity to irradiation of each material is strongly variable since the electronic stopping power threshold for damage creation can vary between 1 and 40 keV/nm. The wide difference in sensitivity to heavy ion irradiation between the insensitive materials such as some semiconductors and insulators and the very sensitive ones like the quartz and some magnetic ferrites is a real challenge for any general model of damage creation in solids.