Surface smoothing of single‐crystal diamond by high‐speed cluster impacts with and without reactive erosion

Abstract

The smoothness of cluster-eroded surfaces of natural and synthetic diamond (Monodite) is compared after erosion with high-speed CO 2 as well as Ar cluster beams. The reactive accelerated cluster erosion (RACE) of the single-crystal diamond substrates using CO 2 clusters leads to a fourfold larger root-mean-square roughness than the erosion with non-reactive Ar clusters. On the other hand, the erosion rate observed with the accelerated Ar clusters is lower by about the same factor than that observed with the accelerated CO 2 clusters. Molecular dynamics calculations reveal corresponding differences already in the simulations of single cluster impacts.

Cluster–surface interaction: From soft landing to implantation

“…The first suggested model of complex crater formation assumed that the crater is formed due to the excavation of the material while the hillock originates according to the mechanisms discussed above [278]. Some MD simulations were able to predict the formation of a small peak at the crater bottom, for example for the case of (CO 2 ) n collisions on diamond [313]. However, such MD simulations showed a much smaller rim-to-rim diameter for the complex craters compared to those observed in the experiments (up to 50 nm even on impact of rather small clusters with sizes of only about 1-2 nm and E kin of a few keV) [286,314].…”

Computer simulation of layer‐by‐layer sputtering at grazing low‐energy ion‐surface interactions

“…Cluster‐solid interaction exhibit new effects not present in collisions of individual atoms with solids leading to surface cleaning, smoothing of the surface topography and high‐yield sputtering. The treatment of single‐crystal diamond surfaces under bombardment with accelerated Ar clusters and CO 2 showed that the Ar cluster erosion yields a smoother surface at a sub‐nanometer level than CO 2 erosion …”