Formation of Frenkel pairs in electron irradiated copper

A computer simulation was performed to study the creation of Frenkel pairs in electron-irradiated Cu at O and 293 deg K. The average radius of Frenkel pairs was calculated as a function of the recoil energy of the knock-on atom out from this, the mean radius of Frenkel pairs created by electron irradiation of given energy was calculated. At the end of focused collision sequence which generates the interstitial, the local transient heating produces defect jumps which slightly reduce the mean radius of the Frenkel pairs. The direction of these jumps allows an approximate determination to be made of the vacancy--interstitial attraction range, which is compared with experimental data for the recombination radius. 13 ref.