Lateral Templating for Guided Self‐Organization of Sputter Morphologies

Abstract

Spontaneously emerging topographic patterns on a Si(100) substrate are guided to develop long-range order (see Figure) by using prefabricated boundaries on the area on which they organize. The density of topological defects, such as dislocations, is minimized when the ratio of the spacing between boundaries to the naturally arising spatial period is near an integer value.