Molecular dynamics study of the angular dependence of reactive cluster impacts

✍ Scribed by Takaaki Aoki; Jiro Matsuo

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 195 KB
• Volume: 241
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-583X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2005.07.108

✦ Synopsis

The collisional processes of fluorine clusters impacting at various incident angles on bare silicon surfaces were studied, and the change of the surface profile, sticking probabilities of F atoms, sputtering yield and the distribution of the sputtered particles were examined. When a (F 2 ) 3 0 0 cluster with 10 eV/atom impacts on a Si(1 0 0) surface at normal incident, the cluster penetrates the surface causing a spherical crater structure with the F atoms densely covered. As the incident angle increases, the penetration depth of cluster decreases and the simulation shows an asymmetric crater profile. Especially at an incident angle of 75°, the surface profile did not change but F atoms were deposited over a wide area. The distribution of sputtered particles also depends on incident angle. At normal incidence, the Si atoms are sputtered as well as silicon-fluoride molecules such as SiF and SiF 2 , while only SiF x molecules are sputtered at 75°of incident angle. From these results the surface etching process caused by reactive cluster impacts are discussed.