Nanoscale structure formation on sputter eroded surface

Abstract

We investigate the morphological features of sputter eroded surfaces, demonstrating that while at short times ripple formation is described by the linear theory, after a characteristic time, the nonlinear terms determine the surface morphology, by monitoring the surface width and the erosion velocity. Furthermore, we show that sputtering under normal incidence leads to the formation of spatially ordered uniform nanoscale islands or holes. We find that while the size of these nanostructures is independent of flux and temperature, it can be controlled by ion beam energy.