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On the role of ion flux in nanostructuring by ion sputter erosion

Wen-bin Fan , Wei-qing Li, Le-jun Qi, Hai-tong Sun, Jia Luo, You-yuan Zhao and Ming Lu

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The role of ion flux in Si(100) nanostructuring by normal-incidence Ar+ ion sputtering has been studied. The measured relationships of the Si lateral dot size versus ion flux, the surface roughness versus ion flux, and the surface roughness versus sample temperature with ion fluxes of 20 and 380 µA cm−2 all indicate that the value of the ion flux is decisive for the validity of the Bradley–Harper (BH) model in the nanostructuring of semiconductor single crystals. In this work, for Ar+ ion sputtering of Si(100) with ion energy of 1.5 keV, it is found that only beyond ~220 µA cm−2 is the BH model well applicable, while below that the Ehrlich–Schwoebel (ES) one tends to be involved. Our results suggest that the ES barrier effect is negligible under relatively high flux conditions, while it is substantial in the case of relatively low flux; for the BH model, the situation is just the reverse. Hence, caution should be exercised as regards the value of the ion flux when one tries to tune the semiconductor nanodot size following the BH model.


PACS

61.46.-w Structure of nanoscale materials

81.16.-c Methods of nanofabrication and processing

81.65.-b Surface treatments

68.37.Ps Atomic force microscopy (AFM)

68.35.Ct Interface structure and roughness

Subjects

Surfaces, interfaces and thin films

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 9 (September 2005)

Received 7 April 2005, in final form 24 May 2005

Published 29 June 2005



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