Low energy Ar+ cleaning, damage and sputtering of InP{100} surfaces

Low energy Ar⁺ sputtering of InP{100} surfaces has been studied over the ion energy range of 5-500 eV. Bombardment was performed by means of a mass-selected, UHV ion beam system with a well-defined energy for which the energy spread is ΔE=±3 eV. The surface composition and morphology were analyzed in situ by AES and ex situ by AFM. The carbon contaminants and the oxide layers can be removed by Ar ⁺ bombardment with ⩾30 eV and ⩾60 eV ions, respectively. However, In-rich clusters and islanding are observed for ion energies above ≈40 eV. The results show that a combination of 30 eV ion bombardment and annealing to ≈350°C produces a clean, defect-free surface