3D Kinetic Lattice Monte-Carlo Simulations of Ion Erosion of fcc(111) Surfaces

In high-dose ion implantation nanoclusters can be formed in a rather well-controlled manner as a function of implantation parameters like ion fluence, ion flux and substrate temperature. According to our current understanding of ion beam synthesis the evolution of nanoclusters is determined by the competition between ballistic and thermodynamic effects. While standard thermodynamics, i.e. the phase transition from a supersaturated solid-solution to second-phase precipitates via homogeneous nucleation and growth, gives a reasonable explanation for a variety of observed nanostructures, under irradiation conditions ballistic processes can modify the phase-ordering kinetics dramatically.
By incorporating collisional mixing with the standard thermodynamical kinetic Monte-Carlo model, analytical predictions of irradiation effects of nanoclusters, e.g. inverse Ostwald ripening, are discussed.