Effect of 10 MeV electron irradiation on the electrical properties of bulk α-In₂Se₃ crystals

In this work, the effect of 10 MeV electron irradiation on the structure and electrical properties of bulk α-In₂Se₃ crystals is studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis, atomic-force microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy methods. Droplets of 200-500 nm in size were detected on the bulk α-In₂Se₃ crystal surface. The droplets can be formations with the γ-In₂Se₃ crystalline phase. The current-voltage characteristics measured by conductive atomic-force microscopy are different on and outside the droplets after electron irradiation. On the droplets, slightly better conductive properties were detected after irradiation with the electron fluence of 10¹⁵ cm^-2. It is found that local resistance increases significantly for both on and outside the droplets after irradiation with the electron fluence of 10¹⁷ cm^-2. Our study shows that electron irradiation can contribute to the disappearance of ferroelectric domains in the bulk α-In₂Se₃ crystals. Also, the distribution of surface potentials measured by Kelvin probe force microscopy becomes more uniform after electron irradiation. The results obtained in the work allow us to calculate the operating time of the device containing α-In₂Se₃ under conditions of long-term electron irradiation with high-energy electrons. The study shows that α-In₂Se₃ is a very promising material for applications in the aerospace and nuclear industries.