MD study on high-energy reactive cluster impact on diamond (111) and (100) surfaces

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of single argon, CO₂ and O₂ cluster impacts on diamond (100) and (111) surfaces are performed in order to investigate the surface erosion process. The transient crater on the (100) surface seems rather unpherical and skew compared to the typical hemispherical crater appeared on the (111) surface due to the orientation-dependent hardness. Argon cluster impacts on the diamond (100) surface resulted in a slightly higher erosion rate than on the (111) surface while it is lowered on the (111) surface for CO₂ cluster impacts. The difference in the susceptibility to the physical erosion appears in the rim or the crater.