Anomalous patterns and nearly defect-free ripples produced by bombarding silicon and germanium with a beam of gold ions

Abstract

We demonstrate that surface ripples with an exceptionally high degree of order can develop when germanium is bombarded with a broad beam of gold ions. In contrast, if silicon is sputtered with an Au− beam, patches of ripples with two distinct wave vectors can emerge. These types of order can be understood if the coupling between the surface morphology and composition is taken into account.