Experiments and simulation of the secondary effect during focused Ga ion beam induced deposition of adjacent nanostructures

• Main Authors: Chen Fang, Qing Chai, Xi Lin, Yan Xing, Zaifa Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-11-01
• Series: Materials & Design
• Subjects: Secondary effect; Secondary particle; Numerical model; Structural characterization; Composition content; Adjacent nanostructures
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127521005487

Focused Ga ion beam can deposit various materials with high-resolution assisted by elaborately selected precursor gases. During the deposition process, the secondary effect arises due to the generation of secondary particles by primary ions. Prominent morphological changes are caused by the secondary effect between adjacent, densely arranged structures. This study analyzes the morphological changes and structural characterizations from the perspective of secondary particles, including scattered ions, sputtered atoms, and re-emitted precursor molecules, with the assistance of continuous cellular automata. C14H10 and W(CO)6 were utilized as the precursor gas in the experiments under the same parameters as the numerical model. The experimental and simulation results demonstrated that the deposit morphology on the adjacent structure, and the enhanced growth rate of the processing structure, could be precisely predicted, with a good estimation of secondary particles contribution. Furthermore, the deposition efficiency on the adjacent structure was improved, and the higher metal content in the deposits was validated by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). This work, therefore, lays foundation for avoiding the secondary effect when fabricating nanostructure arrays, and utilizing it for coatings, chiral structure construction, and tuning material properties.