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Main Authors: Mahato, Jagadish Chandra, Roy, Anupam, Batabyal, Rajib, Das, Debolina, Gorain, Rahul, Dey, Tuya, Dev, B. N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11470
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author Mahato, Jagadish Chandra
Roy, Anupam
Batabyal, Rajib
Das, Debolina
Gorain, Rahul
Dey, Tuya
Dev, B. N.
author_facet Mahato, Jagadish Chandra
Roy, Anupam
Batabyal, Rajib
Das, Debolina
Gorain, Rahul
Dey, Tuya
Dev, B. N.
contents $Ar^+$ ion has been used regularly for the cleaning of semiconductor, metal surfaces for epitaxial nanostructures growth. We have investigated the effect of low-energy $Ar^+$ ion sputtering and subsequent annealing on the $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) condition. Using $in-situ$ scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) we have compared the morphological changes to the $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces before and after the sputtering process. Following $500~eV Ar^+$ ion sputtering, the atomically flat $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surface becomes amorphous. The average root mean square (rms) surface roughness $(σ_{avg})$ of the sputtered surface and that following post-annealing at different temperatures $(500^\circ-700^\circ)C$ under UHV have been measured as a function of STM scan size. While, annealing at $\sim 500^\circ C$ shows no detectable changes in the surface morphology, recrystallization process starts at $\sim 600^\circ C$. For the sputtered samples annealed at temperatures $\geq 600^\circ C, \,log~σ_{avg}$ varies linearly at lower length scales and approaches a saturation value of $\sim 0.6 nm$ for the higher length scales confirming the self-affine fractal nature. The correlation length increases with annealing temperature indicating gradual improvement in crystallinity. For the present experimental conditions, $650^\circ C$ is the optimal annealing temperature for recrystallization. The results offer a method to engineer the crystallinity of sputtered surface during nanofabrication process.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_11470
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effect of UHV annealing on morphology and roughness of sputtered $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces
Mahato, Jagadish Chandra
Roy, Anupam
Batabyal, Rajib
Das, Debolina
Gorain, Rahul
Dey, Tuya
Dev, B. N.
Materials Science
$Ar^+$ ion has been used regularly for the cleaning of semiconductor, metal surfaces for epitaxial nanostructures growth. We have investigated the effect of low-energy $Ar^+$ ion sputtering and subsequent annealing on the $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) condition. Using $in-situ$ scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) we have compared the morphological changes to the $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces before and after the sputtering process. Following $500~eV Ar^+$ ion sputtering, the atomically flat $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surface becomes amorphous. The average root mean square (rms) surface roughness $(σ_{avg})$ of the sputtered surface and that following post-annealing at different temperatures $(500^\circ-700^\circ)C$ under UHV have been measured as a function of STM scan size. While, annealing at $\sim 500^\circ C$ shows no detectable changes in the surface morphology, recrystallization process starts at $\sim 600^\circ C$. For the sputtered samples annealed at temperatures $\geq 600^\circ C, \,log~σ_{avg}$ varies linearly at lower length scales and approaches a saturation value of $\sim 0.6 nm$ for the higher length scales confirming the self-affine fractal nature. The correlation length increases with annealing temperature indicating gradual improvement in crystallinity. For the present experimental conditions, $650^\circ C$ is the optimal annealing temperature for recrystallization. The results offer a method to engineer the crystallinity of sputtered surface during nanofabrication process.
title Effect of UHV annealing on morphology and roughness of sputtered $Si(111)-(7\times7)$ surfaces
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.11470