Characterization of etched tracks and nanotubules by ion transmission spectrometry

Etched tracks have recently come into the focus of renewed interest, as it has turned out that they have a great future application potential. Therefore it is worthwhile to review the techniques for ion track characterization. Especially, ion transmission spectrometry (ITS) has recently emerged as a new tool for the rapid characterization of both the average diameter and the shape of etched tracks as presented in J. Vacik et al. (1997) and J. Vacik et al. (1999). In this paper a simple formula for the correlation between the ion transmission yield and the track diameter is derived for cylindrical tracks under the impact of both parallel and divergent probing ion beams. Increasing beam divergence leads to a slight decrease of the transmission yield for small, and to a considerable enhancement of the track transmission for larger capillaries. Direct track radius determinations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are compared with our ITS calculations with good result.