Nanopattern Formation on Indium Phosphide Using Energetic Ions: An Overview with Various Ion Beam Parameters

Abstract

Nanopattern formation using energetic ion beams has attracted interest due to their important applications in varied fields. Ion beams play a crucial role in the formation of nanostructured materials in different energy regimes. Low energy ions of a few Kiloelectron volt (keV) energy have been used for growing thin films using sputtering process. A few ~10 to 100s of keV ions are used for the growth of nanopatterns (nanodots or nanoripples) through self-assembly or self-organization. Such pattern formation depends hugely on ion beam parameters such as angle of incidence of the beam, ion fluence, ion energy, and target material properties. Thereby, tuning the ion beam parameters, the desired shape and size of the nanopatterns may be achieved on wide variety of substrates. In this paper, effect of the above-mentioned ion beam parameters, especially, on Indium Phosphide (InP), is reported from our earlier studies. Further, the correlations have been made where such patterns have been used for various applications.