Sputtered Si Surface Irradiated By Metal Cluster Complex Ions Such As Os3(Co)(12) And Ir-4(Co)(12)

The surface sputtering of Si using a proto-type ion gun to utilize metal cluster complexes as ion source has been investigated in detail mainly using Auger spectroscopy and atomic force microscope. The Si surface was found to be successfully sputtered with a high sputtering yield and yet resulting in a reasonably smooth surface. However, the sputtered surface roughness behavior against the incident angle of the ion beam show strong dependence to the accelerating energy of the cluster ions, which could be explained by the balance between the sputtering effect and deposition of ions themselves. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.