Swift ion effects in polymers: industrial applications P. Apel * Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Moscow region, Russia Abstract This paper is a review about methods of polymeric material modification based on the irradiation with accelerated heavy ions in the 1–10 MeV/u energy range. Chemical etching of ion tracks in polymers is a method which is widely used in the fabrication of micro- and nanostructures with pre-determined characteristics. Micro- and ultrafiltration membranes produced in this way and known as ‘‘track-etch membranes’’ have found several niches in the market since the seventies. This is an example of mature technology based on irradiation with swift ions. Apart from the membrane technology, the ion track pores find diverse applications as templates for the synthesis of micro- and nanowires and tubes, textured surfaces and bodies with special optical properties. Some recent achievements and promising ideas utilizing swift ion beams are presented. Ó 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 61.80.jh; 68.35.Fx; 68.90.+g; 81.40.Wx Keywords: Accelerators; Heavy ions; Polymers; Tracks; Etching; Membranes; Micropores; Nanostructured materials 1. Introduction Swift ion beams produced by cyclotrons or lin- ear accelerators are a special type of radiation characterized by extremely high linear energy transfer (LET). Compared to conventional ioniz- ing radiation sources, such as radioactive isotopes or electron accelerators, heavy ion accelerators remain sophisticated and expensive equipment, not much used in industrial processes. For this reason, heavy ion beams delivered by existing fa- cilities are mostly employed in the development and fabrication of unique products. First of all, these are microporous and nanoporous materials with precisely controlled geometry. As a conse- quence of the short range of heavy ions in matter, the ion beams can be used for the surface treat- ment and, only in the case of filmy materials, for the bulk modification. Present-day heavy ion ac- celerators provide beams with the ion energies in the order of 10 MeV/u and even 100 MeV/u which expands the treatment depth up to millimeters. However the use of the ions in the 10–100 MeV/u energy range is still very limited because of lower beam intensities and higher costs. This paper aims to survey the commercial processes based on the swift ion beams (the energy range of 1–10 MeV/u) and promising applications which are under con- tinuing investigation at present. It does not aim to cover the broad domain related to the keV range * Tel.: +7-09621-63544; fax: +7-09621-65955. E-mail addresses: apel@lnr.jinr.ru, apel@nrsun.jinr.ru (P. Apel). 0168-583X/03/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0168-583X(03)00634-7 Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 208 (2003) 11–20 www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb