Statistical simulation of pattern formation by ion-beam sputtering

Abstract

Users who downloaded this article also downloaded: (2015),"Effect of phase-lags on Rayleigh wave propagation in thermoelastic medium with mass diffusion", Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 11 Iss 4 pp. 474-493 http:// dx.(2015),"The effect of negative capacitance in varistor structure on the basis of its models with voltage drop on the intergranular interlayer", Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 11 Iss 4 pp. 598-615 http://dx.If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of ion-flow parameters on surface topography and making numerical simulation at the times when the process of surface erosion becomes strongly nonlinear. Design/methodology/approach -The base of the mathematical model of target ion-sputtering is nonlinear evolutionary equation in which the erosion velocity dependence on ion flux is evaluated by means of a Monte Carlo method. The difference between this equation and the one of continuum theory is that the ion flux is not smooth function. Instead, it is a set of separate incident ions. Findings -Some simulations with using independent random points of arrival for the incident ions leads to results uncorrelated with the continuum model at early times. The ripples are not quite developed or observed. This phenomenon is explained by random fluctuations of the target sputtering depth. Sufficiently big values of the random fluctuations destroy the ripple structure on target surface. The simulation with using equally distributed sequence (Holton sequence) of points of arrival for the incident ions leads to results well correlated with the continuum model. Originality/value -The discrete model which goes into the equation of continuum theory within the appropriate asymptotic limit has been proposed. The discretization parameters influence on surface morphology formation has been studied. This paper may be interesting to researchers making the theoretical and numerical analysis of pattern formation on plane target surfaces undergoing ion-beam sputtering.