Temperature and fluence effects on the evolution of regular surface morphologies on ion-sputtered Si(111)

Ari-David Brown and Jonah Erlebacher
Phys. Rev. B 72, 075350 – Published 19 August 2005

Abstract

Results of a survey of the morphological evolution of the surface of Si(111) are presented for conditions in which regular patterned morphologies are spontaneously created during low energy (2501200eV), oblique incidence (60° from normal), Ar+ ion beam etching at elevated temperature (500750°C). The morphological evolution was found to vary with sputtering time (fluence), ion flux, ion energy, and sample temperature. Experimental regimes in which it is appropriate to analyze ripple evolution in terms of the linear Bradley-Harper theory are identified, through which we find that the activation energy for surface mass transport on ion-bombarded Si(111) is 1.7±0.1eV, in general agreement with measurements made in other manners. At higher fluence, nonlinear pattern forming effects are observed, including the observation of the formation of three distinct regular morphologies: two types of one-dimensional ripple arrays that differed both in orientation and regularity, and a two-dimensional array consisting of dots, all of which appear in different fluence regimes. All patterns possessed submicron periodicity and nanometer scale amplitudes. In addition, the wavelengths of one-dimensional ripples were often observed to coarsen with fluence, an effect potentially attributable to step-edge dynamics.

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  • Received 10 January 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.075350

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ari-David Brown1,2 and Jonah Erlebacher2

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

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Issue

Vol. 72, Iss. 7 — 15 August 2005

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