Roughening instability and evolution of the Ge(001) surface during ion sputtering

Journal Article · Mon May 09 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.72.3040· OSTI ID:7072407

Chason, E; Mayer, T M; Kellerman, B K; McIlroy, D T; Howard, A J ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)

We have investigated the temperature-dependent roughening kinetics of Ge surfaces during low energy ion sputtering using energy dispersive x-ray reflectivity. At 150 [degree]C and below, the surface is amorphized by ion impact and roughens to a steady state small value. At 250 [degree]C the surface remains crystalline, roughens exponentially with time, and develops a pronounced ripple topography. At higher temperature this exponential roughening is slower, with an initial sublinear time dependence. A model that contains a balance between smoothing by surface diffusion and viscous flow and roughening by atom removal explains the kinetics. Ripple formation is a result of a curvature-dependent sputter yield.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 7072407
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 72:19; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
GERMANIUM
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
DIFFUSION
ION BEAMS
KINETICS
MICROSTRUCTURE
REFLECTIVITY
ROUGHNESS
SPUTTERING
SURFACE PROPERTIES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
VISCOUS FLOW
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
BEAMS
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
METALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION EFFECTS
SPECTROSCOPY
360605* - Materials- Radiation Effects
360602 - Other Materials- Structure & Phase Studies
665300 - Interactions Between Beams & Condensed Matter- (1992-)
665100 - Nuclear Techniques in Condensed Matter Physics - (1992-)