Applications of Ion Beams to Metals

Conferences have been held in the past on atomic collision phenomena and on the applications of ion beams to semiconductors. However, within the past year it became apparent that there is a growing new area of active research involving the use of ion beams to modify and study the basic properties of metals. As a result a topical conference was organized to bring together for the first time scientists with a wide range of backgrounds and interests related to this field. This book contains the proceed- ings of the International Conference on Applications of Ion Beams to Metals which was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2-4, 1973. Much of the work presented herein represents ideas and concepts which have had little or no previous exposure in the open literature. The application of ion beams to superconducting prop- erties for example is quite new, as is the chapter on ion induced surface reactions, which includes primarily oxidation and corrosion studies of implanted materials. These areas, as well as the chapter on implantation alloy formation, indicate important future areas of the application of ion beams to metals. A reading of the chapters on superconductivity and on oxida- tion and corrosion can serve to bring one up to date on nearly all the existing information in these areas of the ion beam mod- ification of metals. A broad perspective of the oxidation area is given in the invited paper by G. Dearnaley.