THE ROLE OF TRANSIENT ION-INDUCED DEFECTS IN ION-BEAM-ASSISTED GROWTH

Low-energy ion bombardment, concurrent with growth, can control and improve many aspects of film growth, but confirming the atomistic mechanism responsible for these effects has been difficult. We present a simple picture of ion beam-assisted deposition as the interaction of growth-induced and ion-induced surface defects (adatoms and vacancies). We use kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that low-energy ion bombardment in conjunction with growth produces a smoother surface morphology than either growth or ion bombardment alone by destabilizing surface clusters and promoting step flow growth. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.