Ion beam texturing of surfaces

Textured surfaces, typically with conical structures, have been produced previously by simultaneously etching a surface and seeding that surface with another material. A theory based on surface diffusion predicts a variation in cone spacing with surface temperature, as well as a critical temperature below which cones will not form. Substantial agreement with theory has been found for several combinations of seed and surface materials, including one with a high sputter yield seed on a low sputter yield surface (gold on aluminum). Coning with this last combination was predicted by the theory for a sufficiently mobile seed material. The existence of a minimum temperature for the formation of cones should also be important to those interested in ion-beam machining smooth surfaces. Elements contained in the environmental contaminants or in the sputtered alloys or compounds may serve as seed material.