Surface etching by ion sputtering can be used to pattern surfaces. Recent studies using the high-spatial-resolution capability of the scanning tunnelling microscope revealed in fact that ion bombardment produces repetitive structures at nanometre scale, creating peculiar surface morphologies ranging from selfaffine patterns to 'fingerprint'-like and even regular structures, for instance waves (ripples), chequerboards or pyramids. The phenomenon is related to the interplay between ion erosion and diffusion of adatoms (vacancies), which induces surface re-organization. The paper reviews the use of sputter etching to modify 'in situ' surfaces and thin films, producing substrates with well defined vertical roughness, lateral periodicity and controlled step size and orientation.
We present a critical view of the analysis of experimental island densities acquired as a function of temperature in terms of barriers and prefactors for tracer diffusion at surfaces. We investigate the achievable precision for methods ranging from simple application of scaling laws, via integration of mean-field rate equations within various approximations for the capture rates, to kinetic Monte Carlo simulations that account for the various island shapes realized on square and hexagonal lattices. The discussion of theoretical models will be accompanied by variable temperature STM data for the nucleation of Ag on a Pt͑111͒ surface. We introduce experimental methods to test for dimer diffusion and dissociation, as well as for transient mobility of monomers. Density scaling is analyzed in the presence of post-deposition mobility and easy adatom attachment to islands and other monomers. From extended kinetic Monte Carlo simulations we establish density scaling for the various island shapes on square and hexagonal lattices for coverages up to percolation, which is particularly relevant for methods working in reciprocal space. ͓S0163-1829͑99͒01231-X͔
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