Surface morphology of amorphous SiO₂substrates bombarded with 1.0 MeV Si⁺ions

Abstract

Surface pattern formation on amorphous SiO substrates by implantation of 1.0 MeV Si ions at a current of 1.3 µA at 70° angle is reported. Surface micrometer sized ripples perpendicular to the ion beam direction are formed, observed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The morphological features are more or less similar for different fluences. The formation of surface ripples at this energy is discussed in terms of ion stopping mechanisms and patterns obtained within the low- and medium-energy ranges.

Surface morphology and topography evolution of soda-lime silica glass after 1.0 MeV Si ion bombardment

“…For the initial two morphologies, ripple formation to wrinkle transformation presentcommon surface behavior as those reported previously on transparent dielectrics irradiated at low-medium energies including SiO 2 [6,19,51,52], soda-lime [18,53], Al 2 O 3 [54,55], Si 3 N 4 [20,21,55], muscovite [22] and at high energies in SiO 2 [7,8]. In these cases, for q < 75 o the ripple and wrinkle wave vectors are parallel to the ion beam projection onto the surface [52,53].…”

“…The emergence of surface patterns by ion beam irradiation (IBI) techniques is known to occur on a variety of materials including semiconductors [1][2][3], metals [4,5], and insulators [6][7][8], under a wide range of experimental conditions. Since its discovery by Cunningham et al [9] and Návez et al [10], this nano structuring process has drawn attention due to its potential uses in the surface functionalization of materials for applications in microfluidics [11,12], orthopedic implants [13][14][15], and solar cell manufacturing [16][17][18].…”

“…Other studies focus on their mechanical stability, including borosilicate-based glasses for radioactive waste disposal [32]. However, there are few studies on surface morphology changes and the patterns generated after ion implantation of glasses at energies of a few MeV [7,8,33,34].…”

“…For ion irradiation these two regions, surface processes generated by ion-atom interactions are those due to the slowing down of ions in the target material by ion-atom (nuclear collisions) and ion-electron (ionization) [28,42]. Further considerations at higher energies is possible, as there is evidence that similar processes occur near the surface at MeV energies [7,8,33,43,44]. Thus, pattern formation at surfaces focuses primarily in low to medium energy ion beams [39].…”

Special issue on surfaces patterned by ion sputtering

“…Alternative irradiation setups are analyzed in [16], where the effects of two simultaneous ion beams or of altering the substrate orientation are studied. Other interesting expansions of pattern formation by IBS are explored in [17], where a polycarbonated target was irradiated with 40 keV Ar + ions, or in [18], which investigates the formation of ripples with large wavelengths, approximately from 4 µm to 8 µm, on SiO 2 with implanted Si + ions at high energies (1 MeV). Finally, some of the applications of IBS are also covered in this special issue.…”