Single crystals of fluorite (CaF 2 ) were exposed to various swift heavy ions (Ca up to U) of energy 1–11.1MeV per nucleon, covering a large range of electronic stopping power S e between 4.6 and 35.5keV/nm. The irradiated (111) cleaved surfaces were investigated by means of scanning force microscopy in tapping mode. Nanometric hillocks produced by the ion projectiles were analyzed in terms of creation efficiency E eff , diameter and height values, and diameter–height correlation. Hillock formation appears with a low efficiency above a S e threshold of ∼5keV/nm. The mean height of these hillocks is approximately constant (∼1nm) between 5 and 10keV/nm and increases linearly with S e above 10keV/nm reaching 12.5nm for the largest S e value investigated. Similarly, the efficiency grows versus S e achieving 100% for S e >13keV/nm where each projectile produces an individual hillock. Above 13keV/nm, the hillock height and diameter are strongly correlated. The diameter was deduced by graphical deconvolution of the scanning-tip curvature that is determined experimentally for each set of measurements. In the entire S e regime, the mean diameter exhibits a constant value of ∼13nm, which is significantly larger than 6nm wide tracks observed by transmission electron microscopy.