Ion beams have been used for decades for characterizing and analyzing materials. Now energetic ion beams are providing ways to modify the materials in unprecedented ways. This book highlights the emergence of high-energy swift heavy ions as a tool for tailoring the properties of materials with nanoscale structures. Swift heavy ions interact with materials by exciting/ionizing electrons without directly moving the atoms. This opens a new horizon towards the 'so-called' soft engineering. The book discusses the ion beam technology emerging from the non-equilibrium conditions and emphasizes the power of controlled irradiation to tailor the properties of various types of materials for specific needs.

The second volume, Transport Processes in Ion Irradiated Polymers deals with transport processes in both unirradiated and irradiated polymers. As both a review and a stimulus, this work seeks to contribute substantially to the literature and advancement of polymeric devices, from both the low- and high-energy regimes.

Presented in two parts, this first comprehensive overview addresses all aspects of energetic ion irradiation of polymers. Earlier publications and review articles concentrated on selected topics only. And the need for such a work has grown with the dramatic increase of research and applications, such as in photoresists, waveguides, and medical dosimetry, during the last decade. The first part, Fundamentals of Ion Irradiation of Polymers covers the physical, chemical and instrumental fundamentals; treats the specific irradiation mechanisms of low- and high-energy ions (including similarities and differences); and details the potential for future technological application. All the new findings are carefully analyzed and presented in a systematic way, while open questions are identified.

While ion-beam techniques have been used to create thin films in the semiconductor industry for several decades, these methods have been too costly for other surface treatment applications. However, as manufacturing devices become increasingly smaller, the use of a directed-energy ion beam is finding novel industrial applications that require the custom tailoring of new materials and devices, including magnetic storage devices, photonics, opto-electronics, and molecular transport. Engineering Thin Films and Nanostructures with Ion Beams offers a thorough narrative of the recent advances that make this technology relevant to current and future applications. Featuring internationally recognized researchers, the book compiles their expertise in a multidimensional source that: Highlights the mechanisms and visual evidence of the effects of single-ion impacts on metallic surfaces Considers how ion-beam techniques can help achieve higher disk-drive densities Introduces gas-cluster ion-beam technology and reviews its precedents Explains how ion beams are used to aggregate metals and semiconductors into nanoclusters with nonlinear optical properties Addresses current challenges in building equipment needed to produce nanostructures in an industrial setting Examines the combination of ion-beam techniques, particularly with physical vapor deposition Delineates the fabrication of nanopillars, nanoflowers, and interconnected nanochannels in three dimensions by using atomic shadowing techniques Illustrates the production of nanopores of varying dimensions in polymer films, alloys, and superconductors using ion-beam irradiation Shows how fingerprints can be made more reliable as forensic evidence by recoil-mixing them into the substrate using ion beams From the basics of the ion-beam modification of materials to state-of-the-art applications, Engineering Th

Energetic ion beam irradiation is the basis of a wide plethora of powerful research- and fabrication-techniques for materials characterisation and processing on a nanometre scale. Materials with tailored optical, magnetic and electrical properties can be fabricated by synthesis of nanocrystals by ion implantation, focused ion beams can be used to machine away and deposit material on a scale of nanometres and the scattering of energetic ions is a unique and quantitative tool for process development in high speed electronics and 3-D nanostructures with extreme aspect radios for tissue engineering and nano-fluidics lab-on-a-chip may be machined using proton beams. This book will benefit practitioners, researchers and graduate students working in the field of ion beams and application and more generally everyone concerned with the broad field of nanoscience and technology.

Due to new technological progress in the development of ion sources and accelerators interesting kinds of beams are now available. They open new fields for materials research with ion beams. The present status and future possibilities of these research activities are described by experts on this field in the form of review articles. The papers presented in the book focus on very different aspects ranging from the field of truly appliedresearch to the field of fundamental atomic research investigating interaction mechanisms of slow, highly charged particles with surfaces. The book is intended to provide a source of information about recent developments in basic research for the physicists about the status ofthe input of their work into applied materials science. In addition, also other well established techniques, such as Rutherford backscattering analysis and their use in materials research such as of HTC are described. The reader of this book will benefit from its broad view over the various methods of materilas research with ion beams.