Ripple structures on surfaces and underlying crystalline layers in ion beam irradiated Si wafers

We report on the formation of ion beam induced ripples in Si(001) wafers when bombarded with Ar+ ions at an energy of 60 keV. A set of samples varying incidence and azimuthal angles of the ion beam with respect to the crystalline surface orientation was studied by two complementary near surface sensitive techniques, namely atomic force microscopy and depth-resolved X-ray grazing incidence diffraction (GID). Additionally, cross-section TEM investigations were carried out. The ripple-like structures are formed at the sample surface as well as at the buried amorphous–crystalline interface. Best quality of the ripple pattern was found when the irradiating ion beam was aligned parallel to the (111) planes. The quality decreases rapidly if the direction of the ion beam deviates from (111).