Ion Beam Induced Self-Organization and Modification of Nanostructures

This presentation consists of three parts:

(i) The self-organization of regular morphologies on elemental semiconductor surfaces under ion
irradiation will be discussed. At least for low-energy ions the driving force 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 using swift heavy ions will be
reported. Metal spheres can be shaped into rods and quadruples, whereas germanium nanospheres have been shaped into disks. A quantitative model will be presented.
(iii) Nanowires have been synthesized by FIB implantation. By subsequent thermal treatment, nanocluster chains have been formed by a controlled decay of these wires. Atomistic simulations show that rather complex nanostructures can be fabricated.