Self-organized patterning on Si(001) by ion sputtering with simultaneous metal incorporation

This report focuses on the effect of simultaneous Fe incorporation in the self-organized pattern formation on Si(001) by low-energy ion-beam sputtering. Experimental observations giving evidence for the correlation between different ion-beam parameters, Fe concentration on the substrate, and the resulting topography are shown. It was observed that the incorporation of Fe affects the evolution of the topography and it is a requisite for the formation of ripples at near-normal incidence. It is shown also that Fe is not homogeneously distributed on the surface, but there is a higher concentration at the crests of the ripples than at the valleys. For the experimental setup used for this study, the Fe flux that reaches the surface is determined mainly by the acceleration voltage (U _acc), while the ion energy (E _ion) and ion-beam incidence angle (α) control the concentration of Fe in the steady state. The adjustment of these operational parameters of the ion source enables the fine-tuning of surface patterns.     

The role of phase separation for self-organized surface pattern formation by ion beam erosion and metal atom co-deposition

We investigate the ripple pattern formation on Si surfaces at room temperature during normal incidence ion beam erosion under simultaneous deposition of different metallic co-deposited surfactant atoms. The co-deposition of small amounts of metallic atoms, in particular Fe and Mo, is known to have a tremendous impact on the evolution of nanoscale surface patterns on Si. In previous work on ion erosion of Si during co-deposition of Fe atoms, we proposed that chemical interactions between Fe and Si atoms of the steady-state mixed Fe _x Si surface layer formed during ion beam erosion is a dominant driving force for self-organized pattern formation. In particular, we provided experimental evidence for the formation of amorphous iron disilicide. To confirm and generalize such chemical effects on the pattern formation, in particular the tendency for phase separation, we have now irradiated Si surfaces with normal incidence 5 keV Xe ions under simultaneous gracing incidence co-deposition of Fe, Ni, Cu, Mo, W, Pt, and Au surfactant atoms. The selected metals in the two groups (Fe, Ni, Cu) and (W, Pt, Au) are very similar regarding their collision cascade behavior, but strongly differ regarding their tendency to silicide formation. We find pronounced ripple pattern formation only for those co deposited metals (Fe, Mo, Ni, W, and Pt), which are prone to the formation of mono and disilicides. In contrast, for Cu and Au co-deposition the surface remains very flat, even after irradiation at high ion fluence. Because of the very different behavior of Cu compared to Fe, Ni and Au compared to W, Pt, phase separation toward amorphous metal silicide phases is seen as the relevant process for the pattern formation on Si in the case of Fe, Mo, Ni, W, and Pt co-deposition.     

Self-organized ordering of nanostructures produced by ion-beam sputtering

We study the self-organized ordering of nanostructures produced by ion-beam sputtering of targets amorphizing under irradiation. By introducing a model akin to models of pattern formation in aeolian sand dunes, we extend consistently the current continuum theory of erosion by IBS. We obtain new nonlinear effects responsible for the in-plane ordering of the structures, whose strength correlates with the degree of ordering found in experiments. Our results highlight the importance of redeposition and surface viscous flow to this nanopattern formation process.     

Surface instability and pattern formation by ion-induced erosion and mass redistribution

The contribution of curvature dependent sputtering and mass redistribution to ion-induced self-organized formation of periodic surface nanopatterns is revisited. Ion incidence angle-dependent curvature coefficients and ripple wavelengths are calculated from 3-dimensional collision cascade data obtained from binary collision Monte Carlo simulations. Significant modifications concerning mass redistribution compared to the model of Carter and Vishnyakov and also models based on crater functions are introduced. Furthermore, I find that curvature-dependent erosion is the dominating contribution to pattern formation, except for very low-energy irradiation of a light matrix with heavy ions. The major modifications regarding mass redistribution and ion-induced viscous flow are related to the ion incidence angle-dependent thickness of the irradiated layer. A smaller modification concerns the relaxation of inward-directed mass redistribution. Ion-induced viscous flow in the surface layer also depends on the layer thickness and is thus strongly angle dependent. Simulation results are presented and compared to a variety of published experimental results. The simulations show that in most cases curvature-dependent erosion is the dominant contribution to surface instability and ripple pattern formation and also determines the pattern orientation transition. The simulations predict the occurrence of perpendicular ripple patterns at larger ion incidence angles, in agreement with experimental observations. Mass redistribution causes stabilization of the surface at near-normal ion incidence angles and dominates pattern formation only at very low ion energies.     

Self-organized nanoscale pattern formation on vicinal Si(111) surfaces via a two-stage faceting transition

We demonstrate a self-organized pattern formation on vicinal Si(111) surfaces that are miscut toward the [2;11] direction. All the patterns, consisting of a periodic array of alternating (7 x 7) reconstructed terraces and step-bunched facets, have the same periodicity and facet structure, independent of the miscut angle, while the width of the facets increases linearly with miscut angle. We attribute such unique pattern formation to a surface faceting transition that involves two transition stages: the first stage forms a stress-domain structure defining the universal periodicity; the second stage forms the low-energy facets controlling the facet width.     

Surfactant sputtering

Sputter erosion of materials is among the most important techniques for fabricating advanced thin film coatings. Sputter processes are also of considerable relevance for surface polishing down to an atomic scale, nano-structuring of surfaces as dot and ripple patterns and micro-machining of materials using focused ion beams or reactive ion etching. We present a new, versatile sputter technique utilizing the steady state coverage of a substrate surface with up to 10¹⁶ cm⁻² of foreign or self atoms simultaneously during sputter erosion by combined ion irradiation and atom deposition. These surfactant atoms (surface active agents) strongly modify the substrate sputter yield on atomic to macroscopic length scales. Depending on the surfactant–substrate combination, the novel technique allows enhanced smoothing of surfaces, the generation of novel surface patterns and nanostructures and the controlled shaping of surfaces on the nanometer scale. We present selected examples of surface morphology evolution, smoothing of surfaces and shaping of surfaces to demonstrate the capabilities of the new surfactant sputtering technique.     

Bombardment induced surface chemistry on Si under keV C60 impact

Molecular dynamics simulations of the sputtering of Si by C₆₀ keV bombardment are performed in order to understand the importance of chemical reactions between C atoms from the projectile and Si atoms in the target crystal. The simulations predict the formation of strong covalent bonds between the C and Si atoms, which result in nearly all of the C atoms remaining embedded in the surface after bombardment. At low incident kinetic energies, little sputtering of Si atoms is observed and there is a net deposition of solid material. As the incident kinetic energy is increased, the sputtering yield of Si atoms increases. At 15 keV, the yield of sputtered Si atoms is more than twice the number of C atoms deposited, and there is a net erosion of the solid material.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of reactive etching of SiC by energetic fluorine

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate F continuously bombarding Si-terminated 3C-SiC(001) surfaces with incident energies of 10, 100 and 200 eV at normal incidence and room temperature. For an energy of 10 eV, deposition only occurs on the surface. For energies larger than 10 eV, accompanying the saturation of F uptake, a balance between F deposition from the incident atoms and F removal from the fluorinated substrate is established, while the steady-state etching is reached. The simulated results demonstrate that Si atoms in SiC are preferentially etched, which is in good agreement with experiments. The preferential etching of Si results in formation of a C-rich interfacial layer whose thickness increases with increasing incident energy. The analysis shows that Si-containing etch products are dominant. PACS 52.65.Yy; 81.65.Cf; 52.77.Dq     

Roughness evolution of ion sputtered rotating InP surfaces: pattern formation and scaling laws

The topography evolution of simultaneously rotated and Ar (+) ion sputtered InP surfaces was studied using scanning force microscopy. For certain sputter conditions, the formation of a highly regular hexagonal pattern of close-packed mounds was observed with a characteristic spatial wavelength which increases with sputter time t according to lambda approximately t(gamma) with gamma approximately 0.26. Based on the analysis of the dynamic scaling behavior of the surface roughness, the evolution of the surface topography will be discussed within the limits of existing models for surface erosion by ion sputtering.     

Extremely low-energy projectiles for SIMS using size-selected gas cluster ions

A new cluster time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was developed using a size-selected gas cluster ion as a projectile. Since a large gas cluster ion can generate many low-energy constituent atoms in a collision with the surface, it causes multiple and ultra low-energy sputtering. The mean kinetic energy of constituent atoms is provided by dividing the acceleration energy of the gas cluster ion by the number of constituent atoms. Therefore, the sputtering can be controlled to minimize the decomposition of sample molecules and substrate material by precisely adjusting the number of constituent atoms (the cluster size) and/or acceleration energy of the gas cluster ion. The cluster size was selected on the basis of the time-of-flight method using two ion deflectors attached along the ion-beam line. A high resolution of 11.7 was achieved for the cluster size/size width (M/ΔM) of Ar-cluster ions.     

Self-organized dot patterns on Si surfaces during noble gas ion beam erosion

The erosion of target materials with energetic ions can lead to the formation of patterns on the surface. During low-energy (?2000 eV) noble gas (Ne⁺, Ar⁺, Kr⁺, Xe⁺) ion beam erosion of silicon surfaces dot patterns evolve on the surface. Dot structures form at oblique ion incidence of 75° with respect to surface normal, with simultaneous sample rotation, at room temperature. The lateral ordering of dots increases while the dot size remains constant with ion fluence, leading to very well ordered dot patterns for prolonged sputtering. Depending on ion beam parameters, dot nanostructures have a mean size from 25 nm up to 50 nm, and a mean height up to 15 nm. The formation of dot patterns depends on the ion/target mass ratio and on the ion energy. The temporal evolution and the lateral ordering of these nanostructures is studied using scanning force microscopy (AFM).     

Monolayer assembly and striped architecture of Co nanoparticles on organic functionalized Si surfaces

We present a new strategy to fabricate a monolayer assembly of Br-terminated Co nanoparticles on functionalized Si surfaces by using chemical covalent bonding and microcontact printing method. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of the Co nanoparticles formed on the hydroxyl-terminated Si surface exhibit two-dimensional island networks with locally ordered arrays via covalent linkage between nanoparticles and surface. On the other hand, SAMs of the nanoparticles on the aminopropyl-terminated Si surface show an individual and random distribution over an entire surface. Furthermore, we have fabricated striped architectures of Co nanoparticles using a combination of microcontact printing and covalent linkage. Microcontact printing of octadecyltrichlorosilane and selective covalent linkage between nanoparticles and functionalized Si surfaces lead to a hybrid nanostructure with selectively assembled nanoparticles stripes on the patterned functionalized Si surfaces. PACS 81.07.Ta; 61.46.+w; 81.16.Dn; 81.16.Be; 68.37.Hk; 82.80.Pv     

替位杂质对低能Pt原子与Pt(111)表面相互作用影响的分子动力学模拟

采用嵌入原子方法的原子间相互作用势，通过分子动力学方法模拟了低能Pt原子与Cu，Ag，Au，Ni，Pd替位掺杂Pt(111)表面的相互作用过程，系统研究了替位原子对表面吸附原子产额、溅射产额和空位缺陷产额的影响规律，分析了低能沉积过程中沉积原子与基体表面的相互作用机理以及替位原子的作用及其影响规律.研究结果显示：替位原子的存在不仅影响着沉积能量较低时的表面吸附原子的产额与空间分布，而且对沉积能量较高时的低能表面溅射过程和基体表面空位的形成产生重要影响.替位原子导致的表面吸附原子产额、表面原子溅射以及空位形 关键词： 分子动力学 低能粒子 替位掺杂 表面原子产额 溅射 空位     

Effect of a displaced atom on a bulk surface topography induced by ion beam irradiation

The formation of a ripple topography on the surface of an amorphous solid at a small (subcritical) incidence angle of ions was studied by the statistical tests method. It was found that a pattern is formed if the sputtering of atoms in the uppermost layer of the target is taken into account along with the processes occurring in the bulk. In particular, the movement of the atoms displaced during the development of a cascade of impacts must be considered for the formation of a ripple topography with crests and valleys oriented along the beam projection onto the target surface.     

Parallel nanostructuring of GeSbTe film with particle mask

Parallel nanostructuring of a GeSbTe film may significantly improve the recording performance in data storage. In this paper, a method that permits direct and massively parallel nanopatterning of the substrate surface by laser irradiation is investigated. Polystyrene spherical particles were deposited on the surface in a monolayer array by self-assembly. The array was then irradiated with a 248-nm KrF laser. A sub-micron nanodent array can be obtained after single-pulse irradiation. These nanodents change their shapes at different laser energies. The optical near-field distribution around the particles was calculated according to the exact solution of the light-scattering problem. The influence of the presence of the substrate on the optical near field was also studied. The mechanisms for the generation of the nanodent structures are discussed. PACS 81.16.Mk; 61.80.Ba; 81.16.Rf; 81.65.Cf     

Luminescence effects of ion-beam bombardment of CdTe surfaces

In the present work, we report the effect of low-energy ion bombardment on CdTe surfaces. The effect is revealed by FESEM images and photoluminescence (PL) measurements carried out before and after irradiation of CdTe polycrystals by means of an ion-beam sputtering (IBS) system. An important improvement in the luminescence of CdTe was observed in the irradiated areas, related to defect-free surfaces.     

Modeling the formation kinetics of wedge-shaped germanium quantum dots on silicon

A mathematical model for calculating the dependences of the parameters of self-organized germanium quantum dots (QDs) on silicon on the conditions of growth in molecular beam epitaxy is described. The energies of formation for pyramidal and wedge-shaped islands in the Ge/Si(001) system are calculated with allowance for the contributions from surface energy and elastic stress relaxation, and the drop in the energy of attraction between atoms and the substrate.     

Nano- and micro-scale patterning of Si (1 0 0) under keV ion irradiation

Evolution of Si (1 0 0) surface under 100 keV Ar⁺ ion irradiation at oblique incidence has been studied. The dynamics of surface erosion by ion beam is investigated using detailed analysis of atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. During an early stage of sputtering, formation of almost uniformly distributed nano-dots occurs on Si surface. However, the late stage morphology is characterized by self-organization of surface into a regular ripple pattern. Existing theories of ripple formation have been invoked to provide an insight into surface rippling.