Nanostructuring by ion beam

In metals, the surface curvature dependence of the sputtering yield and the presence of an extra energy barrier whenever diffusing adatoms try to descend step edges, produce a similar surface instability, which builds up regular patterns. By tuning the competition between these two mechanisms, it is possible to create self-organized structures of the size of few nanometers. Height, lateral distance and order of the structures change with the deposition parameters like ion energy, dose, incident angle and substrate temperature. The paper offers an overview of the experiments carried out and foresees possible applications of these results in the area of material science.