Solid flow drives surface nanopatterning by ion-beam irradiation
arXiv:1203.1167 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.86.214107
Abstract
Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) is known to produce surface nanopatterns over macroscopic areas on a wide range of materials. However, in spite of the technological potential of this route to nanostructuring, the physical process by which these surfaces self-organize remains poorly under- stood. We have performed detailed experiments of IBS on Si substrates that validate dynamical and morphological predictions from a hydrodynamic description of the phenomenon. Our results elucidate flow of a nanoscopically thin and highly viscous surface layer, driven by the stress created by the ion-beam, as a description of the system. This type of slow relaxation is akin to flow of macroscopic solids like glaciers or lead pipes, that is driven by defect dynamics.
12 pages, 4 figures
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Cited by in corpus (8)
- The crater function approach to ion-induced nanoscale pattern formation: Craters for flat surfaces are insufficient
- Ion beam generated surface ripples: new insight in the underlying mechanism
- Crater functions for compound materials: a route to parameter estimation in coupled-PDE models of ion bombardment
- Ion-beam nanopatterning of silicon surfaces under co-deposition of non-silicide-forming impurities
- Producing nanodot arrays with improved hexagonal order by patterning surfaces before ion sputtering
- Symmetry of surface nanopatterns induced by ion-beam sputtering: the role of anisotropic surface diffusion
- Nanoscale dynamics during self-organized ion beam patterning of Si: II. Kr Bombardment
- Nanoscale dynamics during self-organized ion beam patterning of Si: I. Ar Bombardment