Low Energy Bombardment Induced Formation Of Ge Nanoparticles

We present the formation of Ge nanostructures by bombardment of 1.5 keV Ar atoms on Ge (100). The bombardment was carried out at normal incidence with variation in the fluences from 5x10 15 to 3x10 17 atoms/cm 2 . Near surface chemical study on the pristine and irradiated Ge samples has been carried out using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. In the near surface region of pristine sample, prominence of Ge 4+ was observed by 3d core level present at a binding energy of 33.5 eV. After the irradiation, the evolution of two new core level peaks at binding energies of 29.8 and 30.4 eV confirms the reduction of Ge 4+ to elemental Ge. Atomic Force Micrographs show an increase in surface roughness from 0.4 nm to 10 nm for pristine to sample irradiated at highest fluence. Using the scaling laws and calculating the roughness and growth exponents deduced from Power Spectral Density analysis, it has been found that ion induced coarsening leads to the surface roughening. Further, using the simulati