Sculpting nanoscale precipitation patterns in nanocomposite thin films via hyperthermal ion deposition

Control of the morphology of self-organized nanostructures is the key issue in bottom-up approaches. Here, morphological transitions of precipitation patterns in C:Cu nanocomposite films are studied. The films have been grown by oblique incidence ionized physical vapour deposition. We show that the ion energy and directionality are transferred into the C-Cu phase separation process resulting in nanopattern formation and tilt. Increasing metal content induces the ‘tilted’-‘lying’ transition accompanied with Cu nanoparticle prolate-spherical-oblate shape transformations. The results allow the identification of metal sub-plantation as the key atomistic mechanism, and demonstrate the possibility to achieve nanoscale sculpting via energetic ion deposition.