Recent simulations and experiments had indicated that solid temperature affected the dynamics of defect formation when the energies of the bombarding ions fell below about 100eV. The physical picture formulated for this phenomenon predicted that ion mass should exert only a weak influence upon the threshold energy for defect formation. The present work experimentally confirmed that prediction, through mesoscale surface diffusion measurements of Ge on Si(111), as a marker for ion-induced defect behavior. Furthermore, comparisons between the results and those already obtained for In on Si(111) and Ge(111) showed that the magnitude of the variation in threshold energy with temperature (about 0.1eV/K) was largely independent of the adsorbate–substrate pairing. The present results give further evidence for the existence of a broad class of temperature-dependent ion-induced defect formation processes.

Temperature-Dependent Energy Thresholds for Ion-Stimulated Defect Formation in Solids - Effects of Ion Mass and Adsorbate–Substrate Pairing. Z.Wang, E.G.Seebauer: Surface Science, 2007, 601[12], 2453-8