The Effect of Surface Nanostructures Duty Ratio on Their Evolution under Oblique Cluster Ion Beam

Abstract

This paper proposes the use of surfaces with a preformed ordered nanotopography to study the mechanisms of the evolution of surface topography under ion beam irradiation. The proposed approach is used for silicon surface bombardment with an oblique beam of accelerated cluster ions. Samples with an ordered topography were formed using electron lithography. The surface was studied using the SEM and AFM techniques. It is shown that the resulting topography is formed as a result of the competition between processes of sputtering and redistribution of atoms. The effectiveness of these processes is determined by the local incidence angles of the ions and the surface curvature. The possibility of obtaining an asymmetric surface profile with the specified parameters is shown by selecting the incidence angle of the ion beam, the irradiation dose, and the initial surface topography.