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Ion induced solid flow drives surface nanopatterning under ion-beam sputtering

M. Castro, R. Cuerno

International Conference on Ion-Beam Induced Nanopatterning of Materials - IINM-2011, Bhubaneswar (India). 06-10 Febrero 2011


Summary:
Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) is very interesting as a self-organized surface nanostructuring technique, due to its applicability to a wide variety of materials. Thus, collimated ions with low to medium energies impact a solid target, eroding its surface and inducing formation of nanometric patterns. Recent experiments have invalidated the view that during the last two decades has attributed this phenomenon to the surface curvature dependence of the erosion rate. We propose a fully hydrodynamical model that quantitatively describes the complex IBS morphological diagram revealed by those experiments. Our results imply that the highly viscous (solid) flow of the amorphous layer induced by the ion beam accounts controls nanopatterning in these systems, erosion becoming of a secondary relevance. Our results suggest that the stress plays an important role so understanding its dependence on different experimental parameters needs to ascertain in order to characterize and control nanopatterning.


Publication date: February 2011.



Citation:
Castro, M., Cuerno, R., Ion induced solid flow drives surface nanopatterning under ion-beam sputtering, International Conference on Ion-Beam Induced Nanopatterning of Materials - IINM-2011, Bhubaneswar (India). 06-10 February 2011.


    Research topics:
  • *Mechanical systems: Structural mechanics, Machinery components, Fast prototyping, Metrology