Reverse epitaxy: Nanopattern formation by vacancy self-assembly upon low energy ion irradiation of crystalline semiconductor surfaces

Uniform crystalline nanostructures are sought-after in many fields of research and technology, ranging from ranging from catalysis [1] to electronics [2]: crystalline nanostructures have the potential of becoming the building blocks of future information technology or of boosting development in energy conversion and storage.

Crystalline nanostructures are successfully grown in wet-chemical procedures [3] or by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [4]. Reverse epitaxy [5,6] is an alternative approach to fabricating highly ordered arrays of crystalline nanostructures on large areas of semiconductor surfaces. In contrast to ion irradiation under non-normal incidence at room temperature, where ripples are formed on the amorphized semiconductor surface [7], reverse epitaxy occurs at substrate temperatures above the recrystallization temperature, which ensures that the semiconductor surface retains its crystallinity.
Based on the kinetically restricted diffusion (Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier for crossing atomic steps) of vacancies created by low energy ion irradiation, this subtractive process is considered analogous and complementary to the additive homoepitaxial growth via MBE. The resulting nanostructure morphology can be controlled via easily accessible parameters such as substrate material, surface orientation, temperature, ion species and fluence. Possible morphologies include sawtooth facets and square or hexagonal pyramidal pits with feature sizes of a few tens of nanometers.

We discuss the underlying principles and the mechanism of nanostructure formation by reverse epitaxy. The variety of nanopatterned morphologies on different semiconductor surfaces will be highlighted. We hope to stimulate discussion by presenting recent examples of our research and proposing possible applications.

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[2] Y. Huang et al., Science 291, 630 (2001)
[3] W. Li et al., Nanotechnology 27, 324002 (2016)
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[5] X. Ou et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 016101 (2013)
[6] X. Ou et al., Nanoscale 7, 18928 (2015)
[7] W. L. Chan et al., J. Appl. Phys. 101, 121301 (2007)