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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
The sputtering probabilities for normal and oblique cluster ion impacts were calculated by the use of two-dimensional molecular dynamics (MD) calculations. These simulations have revealed the angular dependence of ejecting surface atoms on the cluster incidence angle. The ejecting flux has a symmetrical form with an essential lateral component in the case of normal cluster incidence. For an oblique cluster indidence we found a sharp asymmetry of sputtering orientation. We obtained that the ejecting flux consists of three components: a) fast flying atoms with the velocities higher than the cluster velocity ν ∼ 2.3ν0, b) approximately self-similar component with ν ≈ ν0, and, finally, c) slowly moving tail with ν ≈ 0.2ν0, where ν0 is the cluster velocity. According to our MD results we developed a new model of surface modification phenomena which consists of the Langevin Dynamics based on the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, combined with a Monte-Carlo procedure for crater formation at normal and oblique cluster impacts. We obtained that for a symmetrical crater shape with a size in the order of 20 Å, a significant smoothing occurs after irradiation by ∼ 103 cluster impacts which has been supported by experiment at dose of ∼ 1014 ion/cm2. The rate of the smoothing process can be significantly accelerated if the lateral sputtering phenemenon is taken into account. Simulation of oblique cluster impact on a surface at a grazing angle of 30° by constructing of asymmetric crater shape gives an opposite result: the surface roughness increases. The latter obtaining qualitatively agrees with the experiment.