title: Anomalous Plastic Deformation and Sputtering of Ion Irradiated Silicon Nanowires.
abstract: Silicon nanowires of various diameters were irradiated with 100 keV and 300 keV Ar(+) ions on a rotatable and heatable stage. Irradiation at elevated temperatures above 300 °C retains the geometry of the nanostructure and sputtering can be gauged accurately. The diameter dependence of the sputtering shows a maximum if the ion range matches the nanowire diameter, which is in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations based on binary collisions. Nanowires irradiated at room temperature, however, amorphize and deform plastically. So far, plastic deformation has not been observed in bulk silicon at such low ion energies. The magnitude and direction of the deformation is independent of the ion-beam direction and cannot be explained with mass-transport in a binary collision cascade but only by collective movement of atoms in the collision cascade with the given boundary conditions of a high surface to volume ratio.
authors.affiliation: †Institute for Solid State Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johannes
authors.affiliation: †Institute for Solid State Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noack
authors.affiliation: †Institute for Solid State Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wesch
authors.affiliation: ‡Institute of Solid State Electronics, Vienna University of Technology, Floragasse 7, 1040, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.affiliation: ‡Institute of Solid State Electronics, Vienna University of Technology, Floragasse 7, 1040, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Alois
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lugstein
authors.affiliation: †Institute for Solid State Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ronning
keywords: Nanostructure; ion irradiation; nanowire; plastic deformation; silicon; sputtering; thermal-spike