title: Formation of silicon nanodots via ion beam sputtering of ultrathin gold thin film coatings on Si.
abstract: Ion beam sputtering of ultrathin film Au coatings used as a physical catalyst for self-organization of Si nanostructures has been achieved by tuning the incident particle energy. This approach holds promise as a scalable nanomanufacturing parallel processing alternative to candidate nanolithography techniques. Structures of 11- to 14-nm Si nanodots are formed with normal incidence low-energy Ar ions of 200 eV and fluences above 2 × 1017 cm-2. In situ surface characterization during ion irradiation elucidates early stage ion mixing migration mechanism for nanodot self-organization. In particular, the evolution from gold film islands to the formation of ion-induced metastable gold silicide followed by pure Si nanodots formed with no need for impurity seeding.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. oelatwan@purdue.edu.
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: El-Atwani
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ortoleva
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cimaroli
authors.forename: Jean Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Allain