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Production of ordered silicon nanocrystals by low-energy ion sputtering

Raul Gago·Luis Vazquez·Rodolfo Cuerno·Maria Varela·Carmen Ballesteros·Jose M. Albella
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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

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Raul Gago, Luis Vazquez, Rodolfo Cuerno, Maria Varela, Carmen Ballesteros, Jose M. Albella. 2001-06-26. Production of ordered silicon nanocrystals by low-energy ion sputtering. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1372358

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