Molecular dynamics study of surface modification with a glancing angle gas cluster ion beam

The collisional process of glancing angle gas cluster ion impact was studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Ar2000 clusters accelerated to 20 keV were irradiated onto a Si(1 0 0) target at various incident angles ranging from 0° to 80°. The investigation of the surface profile after collision revealed that there is a certain incident angle where the incident cluster penetrates the target surface to cause crater-like damage. For larger incident angles, such as 80° from the surface normal, the cluster slides on the target surface without creating displacements. This mechanism of non-damage irradiation was examined with respect to the perpendicular component of incident energy.