Transformation of tin spheres into hollow cubes by He+ irradiation

Broad ion irradiation of nanoobjects can considerably change their shape. Examples are ion-beam hammering [1], ion-induced shaping of buried particles [2], and ion-induced viscous flow of nanopillars [3]. Such shape changes are mainly driven by the kinetics of defects generated by binary collisions of ions and recoils. Here we report a new kind of ion-induced structure evolution.
Sub-micrometer Sn spheres were irradiated with 30 keV He+ ions in a Helium Ion Microscope (HIM). Above a He+ fluence of ~ 10E17 /cm², Sn extrusions appear on the surface of the spheres and were imaged with the HIM. Initially, small, pyramid-like facetted extrusions form at the equator of the tin spheres (north pole pointing to the ion source). Later, each sphere becomes completely covered with tin and appears like a facetted single crystal cube. No Sn extrusions were observed for tin spheres with diameters smaller than ~100 nm. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy studies show that the tin spheres are covered with a few nm thick SnOx skin and that the extrusions are single crystals.

A model was developed which assumes that the He+ ions generate Frenkel pairs in the body-centered tetragonal lattice of tin. The point defects are confined to the tin sphere by the SnO skin, and there is no preferred nucleation or annihilation of the point defects at the Sn-SnO interface. The recombination of interstitials with vacancies is partly inhibited by occupation with He atoms. This results in an increasing pressure of the “interstitial gas”. Simultaneously, He+ ion erosion creates openings in the SnO skin. The sputter coefficient increases with the angle of incidence, so that openings in the SnO skin form in the equator regions first. Once the tin interstitials find an opening in the SnO skin, they can escape from the interior of the Sn sphere and form an epitaxial regular Sn lattice on the outside. Due to the high Sn-SnO bond strength, the extruded tin wets the outer SnO surface.

Computer simulations were performed based on this model. The Frenkel pair generation and the SnO skin sputtering are simulated with dynamical programs based on the Binary Collision Approximation TRI3DYN [4]. Reaction-diffusion dynamics as well as nucleation and extended defect growth were simulated with a 3D kinetic lattice Monte Carlo program [5] using an RGL-potential for tin. The formation of cavities and their filling with He reproduces the experimentally observed tendency for hollow cube formation.

[1] Snoeks et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth B 178 (2001) 62
[2] Schmidt et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth. B 267 (2009) 1345
[3] Xu et al., Semicond. Sci. Technol. 35 (2020) 15021
[4] Möller, Nucl. Instr. Meth. B 322 (2014) 23
[5] Strobel et al., Phys. Rev. B 64 (2001) 245422