Initiation of Periodic Relief Development on the Silicon Surface under Ion Irradiation

The report presents the results of studying the process of periodic relief nucleation on the silicon surface irradiated with a 30 keV focused beam of gallium ions at ion beam incidence angles θ = 30°, 40°, and 50°. It is shown that the following factors initiate the origin of periodic relief: gallium precipitates in the near-surface silicon layer (θ = 30°), topographic inhomogeneity in the form of a hole at the boundary of the bottom, and the frontal wall of the sputtering crater (θ = 40° and 50°).