Abstract
Ion beam induced ripples have limitations to be used in widespread nanoscale device applications due to the presence of deformity in surface patterns. Defect free ripples can only be produced on binary materials if the ion species, energy and angle of incidence are appropriately chosen. Fabrication of highly ordered defect free ripples is observed on GaAs(100) surfaces after the irradiation of 60 keV Ar+ ion beam for different fluences. Atomic force microscopy study demonstrates that the ordering as well as coarsening of ripples are increased with increase in fluence. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was carried out to study the significant role of altered surface composition for the generation of defect free ripples. The evolution of high degrees of order is explained with the help of existing formalisms of coupling between surface topography and preferential sputtering.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.