Radiation tolerant nanocrystalline ZrN films under high dose heavy-ion irradiations

摘要: ZrN, a refractory ceramic material, finds many potential applications in advanced nuclear reactors. However, the grain size dependent radiation response nanocrystalline (nc) ZrN under high dose heavy ion irradiation has not yet been studied to date. Here, we compare of nc-ZrN films (with respective average ∼9 and 31 nm) Fe2+ irradiations up damage level 10 displacements-per-atom (dpa). The film with 9 nm shows prominently enhanced tolerance as evidenced by suppressed growth, alleviated softening, well reduced variation electrical resistivity. In contrast, larger 31 nm prominent softening resistivity increase, attributed density defect cluster formed inside grains. influence boundaries on is discussed.