Instead of a cratered erosion morphology, rare-gas ion bombardment of the (111) surface was found to cause the initial surface growth of several atomic layers. This phenomenon was observed for Ne+, Ar+ and Xe+, for all temperatures at which bombardment induced morphological surface changes, and for ion energies ranging down to a few hundred eV. The effect was explained in terms of a thermal-spike induced separation of the damage into sub-surface vacancy clusters and surface adatom clusters.

Atomic Layer Growth on Al(111) by Ion Bombardment. C.Busse, H.Hansen, U.Linke, T.Michely: Physical Review Letters, 2000, 85[2], 326-9