Production of ordered silicon nanocrystals by low-energy ion sputtering

Abstract

We report on the production of ordered assemblies of silicon nanostructures by means of irradiation of a Si(100) substrate with 1.2 keV Ar ions at normal incidence. Atomic Force and High-Resolution Transmission Electron microscopies show that the silicon structures are crystalline, display homogeneous height, and spontaneously arrange into short-range hexagonal ordering. Under prolonged irradiation (up to 16 hours) all dot characteristics remain largely unchanged and a small corrugation develops at long wavelengths. We interpret the formation of the dots as a result of an instability due to the sputtering yield dependence on the local surface curvature

4 two-column pages (revtex4), 3 figures (higher quality copies in the printed jrnl. version)

References in corpus (1)

• Quantum Dot and Hole Formation in Sputter Erosion

Cited by in corpus (12)

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