Nanostructure Formation and Modification with Ion Beams

This presentation consists of three parts:

(i) The self-organization of regular morphologies on elemental semiconductor surfaces under irradiation with ions will be discussed. It will be proven that at least for low-energy ions the driving force for this pattern formation is not sputtering, as it was claimed in most published papers so far, but ion impact induced mass drift.
(ii) Our progress on shaping of metal and semiconductor nanospheres embedded in silica using swift heavy ions will be reported. Metal spheres can be shaped into rods and quadruples, whereas germanium nanospheres have been shaped into disks. It will be shown that electronic stopping power melts the nanoparticles, and that the volume change upon melting is the driving force for shaping.
(iii) Nanowires have been synthesized by FIB implantation, e.g. CoSi2 wires in silicon. By subsequent thermal treatment, nanocluster chains have been formed by a controlled decay of these wires. Computer experiments will show that rather complex nanostructures can be fabricated by this technique.