Issue |
EPL
Volume 109, Number 4, February 2015
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 48003 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/109/48003 | |
Published online | 26 February 2015 |
Ion damage overrides structural disorder in silicon surface nanopatterning by low-energy ion beam sputtering
1 Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT), Universidad Pontificia Comillas - 28015 Madrid, Spain
2 Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 28049 Madrid, Spain
3 Departamento de Física Aplicada y Centro de Microanálisis de Materiales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco - 28049 Madrid, Spain
4 Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid - 28911 Leganés, Spain
5 IPFN, CTN, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa - 2695-066 Bobadela LRS, Portugal
6 Grupo de Dinámica No Lineal (DNL), Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería (ICAI), Universidad Pontificia Comillas - 28015 Madrid, Spain
7 Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC)
Received: 15 December 2014
Accepted: 6 February 2015
We investigate the role of the initial structural condition in silicon surface nanopatterning by low-energy ion beam sputtering. Specifically, we address the influence of the target atomic structure in ripple formation under oblique irradiation by 500 eV ions. To this end, we compare results obtained on single-crystal, amorphous, and pre-implanted silicon targets. In spite of the differences in terms of structural order, and in contrast to previous results for medium energies, surface dynamics are found to be quantitatively similar in all these systems. We explain our results through molecular dynamics simulations of the initial irradiation stages, with the conclusion that the damage induced by low-energy ion bombardment overrides the initial atomic state of the silicon target, irrespectively of its preparation method and allows silicon re-using for nanostructuring.
PACS: 81.16.Rf – Micro- and nanoscale pattern formation / 68.35.Ct – Interface structure and roughness / 79.20.Rf – Atomic, molecular, and ion beam impact and interactions with surfaces
© EPLA, 2015
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.