Nanopatterning of Si surfaces by normal incident ion erosion: Influence of iron incorporation on surface morphology evolution

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3585796· OSTI ID:21560272

Jing, Zhou ^[1]; Facsko, Stefan; Moeller, Wolfhard ^[1]; Ming, Lu ^[2]

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1. Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, P.O. Box 510119, D-01314 Dresden (Germany)
2. Department of Optics Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433 (China)

The surface morphology of Si(100) induced by 1200 eV Ar{sup +} ion bombardment at normal incidence with and without Fe incorporation is presented. The formation of nanodot patterns is observed only when the stationary Fe areal density in the surface is above a threshold value of 8x10{sup 14} cm{sup -2}. This result is interpreted in terms of an additional surface instability due to locally nonuniform sputtering in connection with the presence of a Fe rich amorphous phase at the peak of the nanodots. At Fe concentrations below the threshold, smoothing dominates and pattern formation is inhibited. The transition from a k{sup -2} to a k{sup -4} behavior in the asymptotic power spectral density function supports the conclusion that under these conditions ballistic smoothing and ion-enhanced viscous flow are the two dominant mechanisms of surface relaxation.

• OSTI ID: 21560272
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 109, Issue 10; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3585796; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
AMORPHOUS STATE
ARGON IONS
ASYMPTOTIC SOLUTIONS
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
DENSITY
DIFFUSION
EVOLUTION
FABRICATION
INSTABILITY
ION BEAMS
IRON
PLASTICS
QUANTUM DOTS
RELAXATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILICON
SPECTRAL DENSITY
SPUTTERING
SURFACES
VISCOUS FLOW
BEAMS
CHARGED PARTICLES
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
FUNCTIONS
IONS
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
METALS
NANOSTRUCTURES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PETROCHEMICALS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYMERS
SEMIMETALS
SPECTRAL FUNCTIONS
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS