MeV Au2+ ions induced surface patterning in silica

Abstract This paper reports the formation of self-organised surface morphological features on silica irradiated with MeV energy gold ions. Amorphous silica substrates were irradiated with 1.8 MeV gold ions at normal incidence at room temperature to various doses in the range of 5 × 1016 ions/cm2 to 2 × 1017 ions/cm2. The formation of a periodic surface pattern with a wavelength of 1.35 μm was observed at an irradiation dose of 1 × 1017 ions/cm2. The observation of surface segregation of gold at around the same dose suggests possible role of surface stresses caused by the incorporation of metal atoms in the formation of the observed periodic surface morphology.