A review was presented of experimental results on defect formation in metallic materials. The data supported the assumption that electron-phonon coupling was the main parameter which governed the behavior in the electronic stopping power regime. On the basis of this, a thermal spike model was developed by numerically solving 2 coupled equations that described energy diffusion via electrons and lattice atoms. By assuming that the experimental observations could be interpreted as reflecting a rapid quenching of an induced molten phase, the radii of latent tracks in metals which had been bombarded with atomic and cluster ions were calculated. A reasonably good agreement with experimental data was found.

M.Toulemonde, C.Dufour, Z.Wang, E.Paumier: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 1996, 112[1-4], 26-9