Formation of intrinsic point defects in fluorine-doped synthetic SiO ₂ glass by⁶⁰Co γ-ray irradiation

Intrinsic point defect formation in a fluorine-doped synthetic silica (SiO₂) glass by ⁶⁰Co γ-ray irradiation was examined. The most abundantly formed defects are oxygen vacancies (Si-Si bonds). The concentrations of Si-Si bonds and interstitial oxygen molecules increase almost linearly with the γ-ray dose. These observations indicate that the primarily intrinsic defect process in SiO₂ glass irradiated with ⁶⁰Co γ-rays is the Frenkel pair formation, rather than a simple cleavage of an Si-O bond into a pair of silicon and oxygen dangling bonds.