U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science: Morphology of Ion Bombarded Surfaces

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

9910426 Barabasi This award supports a 3-year collaborative research between Dr. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, University of Notre Dame, Indiana and Professor Byungnam Kahng at Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea. The proposed collaboration aims to obtain a coherent understanding of the main physical factors contributing to the morphology of surface eroded by ion bombardment, as well as to investigate the effect of the surface morphology on the sputtering yield. Ion-beam sputtering, the removal of material from the surface of solids through the impact of energetic particles, is a particularly important thin film processing technique. Due to its relevance to a number of experimental techniques, measuring tools and patterning methods, the morphological features of surfaces erodes by ion bombardment is a much investigated problem. Beyond the technological driving forces, such studies are timely due to the increasing availability of high resolution observation techniques that offer detailed information about the surface morphology. The PIs plan to develop integration and discrete models to investigate the following problems: (1) The dynamics of yield evolution during the sputtering process, a phenomenon that can be directly compared to various experimental results. (2) The low temperature morphology of sputter eroded surfaces when thermally induced surface is small, and surface relaxation is dominated by ion-induced effective diffusion. (3) To use dynamic renormalization group methods to investigate the effect of the anisotropy on the surface morphology. This project will be performed in conjunction with Professor Kahng's group at Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea under the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program, which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. The Korea Science and Engineering Foundation support Korean participation.