Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2011
New surface modification processes have been demonstrated using gas clusterion irradiations because of their unique interaction between cluster ionsand surface atoms. For example, high quality ITO films could be obtained by O2 cluster ion assisted deposition at room temperature. It isnecessary to understand the role of cluster ion bombardment during filmformation for the further developments of this technology. VariableTemperature Scanning Tunneling Microscope (VT-STM) in Ultra High Vacuum(UHV) allows us to study ion bombardment effects on surfaces and nucleationgrowth at various temperatures.
The irradiation effects between Ar cluster ion and Xe monomer ion werecompared. When a Si(111) surface with Ge deposited to a few Å was annealedto 400°C, it was observed that many islands of Ge were formed. The surfacewith the Ge islands was irradiated by these ions. In the STM image ofcluster-irradiated surface, large craters with diameter of about 100 Å wereobserved, while only small traces with diameter of about 20 Å were observedin monomer-irradiated surface. The number of Ge atoms displaced by one Arcluster ion impact was much larger than that by one Xe ion impact. Thisresult indicates that Ar cluster ion impacts can enhance the physicalmodification of Ge islands. When the sample irradiated with Ar cluster wasannealed at 600°C, the hole remained, but the outer rim of the craterdisappeared and the surface structure was reconstructed at the site of therim. The depth of damage region in the target became shallower with decreaseof the impact energy. These results indicate that low damage and usefulsurface modification can be realized using the cluster ion beam.