A kinetic Monte Carlo study of mixed 1D/3D defect migration

Defect clusters form readily in collision cascades in metals, and some of the self-interstitial atom clusters form as crowdion clusters that diffuse by one-dimensional migration along a close-packed direction. Defect interactions and thermal fluctuations can cause the direction of one-dimensional migration to change, resulting in a mixed one-dimensional/ three-dimensional migration.

Kinetic Monte Carlo computer simulations applied to model systems are used to investigate the effects of one-dimensional, three-dimensional and mixed one-dimensional/ three-dimensional migration on defect reaction kinetics. The functional relationships between the sink strength, the size of sinks and the average distance between direction changes during mixed one-dimensional/three-dimensional migration are explored.