Threshold Energy for Generating Damage with Cluster Ion Irradiation

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn order to understand the damage formation by cluster ion irradiation, Si substrates were irradiated with Ar cluster ions at the acceleration energy of 1–20keV. The mean size of cluster was about 3000 atoms. The amount of damage after Ar cluster ion irradiation was measured with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The amount of damage was decreased with decrease of the energy and no damage formed at less than 2keV. This energy of 2keV represents the threshold energy to generate damage with the cluster size of 3000. According to Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, the damage formation with cluster ion irradiation also depends on cluster size. The size dependence of amount of damage has been investigated experimentally. The cluster size distribution could be changed with the ionization condition and could be measured using Time-of-Flight (TOF) method. The threshold energy was increased with cluster size. These results indicate that undamaged films can be created by using large size of cluster ion with low acceleration energy.