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Engineering Thin Films
and Nanostructures
with Ion Beams
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OPTICAL ENGINEERING
Founding Editor
Brian J. Thompson
University of Rochester
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Engineering thin films and nonostructures with ion beams / [edited by] Emile Knystautas.
p. cm. (Optical engineering ; 92)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8247-2447-X (alk. paper)

While it used to be that ion-beam-based processes related
mainly to simply doping of the “near surface,” more recent
research centers on the customized (hence the word “engi-
neering” in the title) creation of structures on a fine, i.e.,

DK2964_C000.fm Page vii Monday, March 7, 2005 11:00 AM
© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

nanometer, scale. Ion beams are now used to aggregate metals
and semiconductors into nanoclusters with nonlinear optical
properties, to make nanopores of varying dimensions in poly-
mer film alloys and superconductors and to fabricate nano-
pillars, “nanoflowers” and interconnected nanochannels in
three dimensions by the use of sophisticated atomic shadow-
ing techniques, to name just a few.
A Glossary is included at the end of the volume for the
benefit of those who may be new to this area and unfamiliar
with some of the terms and acronyms used herein. Included
in a CD accompanying this volume are video clips taken in
an electron microscope that provide striking visual evidence
of crater formation and annealing by ion beams.
It is a pleasure to thank all authors for their efforts and
professionalism in presenting their contributions.

Émile Knystautas

Québec, Québec
March 2004

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Contributors

John E.E. Baglin

IBM Almaden Research
Center

San Jose, California

Robert C. Birtcher

Materials Science Division
Argonne National
Laboratory

Argonne, Illinois

J.D. Demaree

U.S. Army Research Lab

Aberdeen, Maryland

E. Cattaruzza

INFM Department of Physical
Chemistry

University of Venice


Union College

Schenectady, New York

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© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Daniel Gall

Department of Material
Sciences and Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute

Troy, New York

F. Gonella

INFM Department of Physical
Chemistry

University of Venice

Venice, Italy

James K. Hirvonen

U.S. Army Research Lab



Paolo Mazzoldi

INFM Department of Physics
University of Padova

Padova, Italy

A. Misra

Materials Science and
Technology Division
Los Alamos National
Laboratory

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Michael Nastasi

Materials Science and
Technology Division
Los Alamos National
Laboratory

Los Alamos, New Mexico

K. Nordlund

Accelerator Laboratory
University of Helsinki

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Single Ion Induced Spike Effects on Thin Metal Films:
Observation and Simulation

S.E. Donnelly, R.C. Birtcher, and K. Nordlund

Chapter 3 9

Ion Beam Effects in Magnetic Thin Films

John E.E. Baglin

Chapter 4

Selected Topics in Ion Beam Surface
Engineering

D.B. Fenner, J.K. Hirvonen, and J.D. Demaree

Chapter 5

Optical Effects of Ion Implantation

P.D. Townsend and P.J.T. Nunn



Chapter 10

Nuclear Tracks and Nanostructures

Robert L. Fleischer

Chapter 11

Forensic Applications of Ion-Beam Mixing and
Surface Spectroscopy of Latent Fingerprints

Charles H. Koch

Glossary

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© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Chapter 1

Introduction

Thin films can be produced in many forms and have properties
that can differ significantly from their corresponding bulk
form. They can be prepared by a host of techniques such as
sputtering (single or multiple) layers on a substrate, creating
buried waveguides by ion implantation in an optical material,
or making complex nanostructures by ion irradiation during
vapor deposition.

ions impinge
on a surface. Comparison with molecular dynamics simula-
tions have given a satisfyingly complete picture of some of
the basic mechanisms involved in the formation of craters and
their (occasional) annealing by subsequent ion impacts. On
the other hand, there are still other matters, such as the
emission of nanoclusters, which require further study. Visual
evidence of the effects of single-ion impacts is provided in the
compact disc accompanying this volume, which contains some
stunning video clips of the phenomena discussed. It is sug-
gested that the reader watch these while reading the corre-
sponding text. Rarely can one see sequential phenomena
presented so vividly on a microscopic scale.
Magnetic recording is the topic of the following chapter
by IBM Almaden’s John Baglin, who discusses the
ever-increasing demand for higher and higher disk-drive den-
sities and how ion-beam techniques can help to achieve them.
After briefly discussing some fundamental results that show
the relative roles of ionization and collision processes for var-
ious ion beams and energies, he shows how ion-beam mixing
(as opposed to ion implantation) can be used in some appli-
cations even in an industrial environment, where one might
normally expect such a technique to be prohibitively expen-
sive. He points out that spatial resolution issues can also be
resolved in the application of ion-beam processing to magnetic
storage technology.
For many years one of the standard reference books on
ion implantation was the treatise by Jim Hirvonen [“Ion
Implantation,” J.K. Hirvonen, Ed., vol. 18 of “Treatise on
Materials Science and Technology,” Academic Press, N.Y.,

(for centuries Venice has been known for its expertise in
glass), they trace the history of the optical properties of metal-
lic nanoclusters in glasses back to Faraday, who spoke of
metallic inclusions as being responsible for the coloration of
glasses. The most recent approach, as described in their chap-
ter, shows how the use of binary alloy nanoclusters allows one
to tune the optical properties of glasses by varying the relative
composition of such alloys.
The next chapter, by Misra and Nastasi of Los Alamos
National Laboratory, discusses an important aspect of
thin-film preparation by ion bombardment that is all too often
ignored in the literature: the stresses, both tensile and com-
pressive, that can be generated by ion-beam methods, and the
problems to which these can give rise (delamination for
instance). They discuss the origins of such stresses at the

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© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

atomic defect level and describe how varying ion-beam energy
and dose can modify these to achieve the desired results.
While ion-beam techniques are now standard practice in
the semiconductor industry, the demand for micro-devices of
ever-smaller dimensions will require considerable refinement.
An overview of current problems and their practical solution
is provided in the chapter by Koji Matsuda and Masayasu
Tanjyo, both with the Nissin Ion Equipment Co. Ltd. in Kyoto.
Their discussion centers on the demands of production-line
equipment in an industrial, rather than a pure R&D setting.
Daniel Gall’s chapter focuses on applying ion-beam tech-


The last chapter, by Jim Koch of the University of Con-
necticut, is a good example of the possibilities of innovation
in this field. His work shows how fingerprints can be made
permanent and hence more reliable as forensic evidence by
recoil-mixing them into the substrate using ion beams. Not
only does the record thus become permanent but the finger-
print (even if only a partial one) can then be subjected to very
sensitive surface-analytical techniques that can identify not
only its shape but also its chemical composition.
A Glossary is included at the end of the book for some
terms that may not be familiar to all, given that the intended
audience for this volume consists of those who are not already
working in this particular field. The definitions provided are
“practical” in nature and not intended to be rigorous, aiming
rather to facilitate a fluid reading of the book without inter-
ruptions to consult references.
Finally, a compact disc that contains several video files
to supplement the chapter on single-ion impacts (by Donnelly
et al.) is included at the end of the book.

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© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Chapter 2

Single Ion Induced Spike Effects on Thin
Metal Films: Observation and
Simulation


Discussion

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© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

2.3 Nanocluster Emission
2.3.1 Craters and Nanoparticles
2.3.2 Nanoparticle Collection
2.3.3 Radiation Effects on Nanoparticles
2.3.4 Nanoparticle Ejection Rates
2.3.5 Relationship of Nanoparticle Ejection to
Cratering and Cascade Events
2.3.6 Nanoparticle Ejection Mechanisms
2.3.7 Ejected Nanoparticle Size Distribution
2.3.8 Shock Wave Model
2.3.9 Relationship of Nanoparticle Ejection to
Sputtering
2.3.10 Synthesis
2.3.11 Summary of Nanoparticle Experiments
2.4. MD Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Crater
Production
2.4.1 Monte Carlo Simulations versus Molecular
Dynamics
2.4.2 Channeling Effects
2.4.3 MD Simulation Method
2.4.4 Formation of Ordinary Craters
2.4.4.1 Surface Damage Mechanisms
2.4.4.2 Basic Crater Formation Mechanism
2.4.5 Formation of Exotic Crater Structures
2.4.6 Analysis Based on MD

emission of nanoclusters by ion impacts where the experimen-
tal size distribution of the emitted particles exhibits a power-
law relationship, suggesting that this could be a shock-wave
phenomenon. Although this is not, as yet, supported by the
MD work, further simulations giving rise to improved statis-
tics on nanocluster emission should enable a better compar-
ison between experiment and simulation and thus serve to
test this interpretation.

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Up to a certain energy density, the interaction of an energetic
ion with a solid can be successfully described as a series of
binary collisions involving the impinging ion and recoiling
substrate atoms in what is generally described as a collision
cascade. Monte Carlo simulation programs have been
extremely successful in using this binary collision approach to
estimate statistical parameters such as the distributions of
implanted ions and of radiation damage (but neglecting any
annealing processes that may take place). Under certain con-
ditions of high energy-deposition density, this approach, how-
ever, is inappropriate. As first suggested by Brinkman [1,2],
when the mean free path between displacing collisions
approaches the interatomic spacing of the substrate, the inter-
action can no longer be regarded as one involving independent
binary collisions and this description breaks down. In such
cases, a small highly disturbed region is formed, in which the
mean kinetic energy of the atoms may be up to several elec-
tronvolts per atom; this is known as an energy or displacement
spike. At some time after the initial energy deposition (of order

convergence, it is now possible both to image individual spike
effects in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and to
model the same events by molecular dynamics. For some years
now it has been possible to perform MD simulations of spike
effects on “crystallites” of reasonable size and this size
increases with every generation of computers. Currently, max-
imum crystallite sizes possible in MD simulations correspond
to primary recoil energies in the range 100–200 keV. This
overlaps with the energy range in which experiments are
conducted and thus MD simulations can now give significant
insights into spike processes — typically up to times of tens
of picoseconds or so after the simulated impact. Atomic con-
figurations resulting from an MD simulation can then be

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exported into TEM “multislice” image simulation software to
yield simulated images that can be directly compared with
experimental images.
In 1981 in a review of high-density cascade effects,
Thompson posed two important questions on the nature of
spike processes and these have remained substantially unre-
solved until the last decade [3]. The questions were: (i) “is it
legitimate to use the concept of a vibrational temperature
when the number of atoms in the spike (typically on the order
of 10

4



Ex Situ

Studies of Crater Formation

In 1981, Merkle and Jäger used TEM to examine Au surfaces
that had been irradiated with Bi and Au ions with energies

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