Ordering Enhancement of Ion Bombardment-Induced Nanoripple Patterns: A Review

Low-energy ion bombardment (IB) has emerged as a promising, maskless nanofabrication tool for quasi-periodic nanoripples, marked by a high throughput and low cost. As templates, these IB-induced, self-organized surface nanoripples have shown potential for applications in diverse fields. However, the challenge of tailoring the ordering of these ripple patterns is preventing the widespread application of IB. Moreover, the enhancement of the ordering of these self-organized nanostructures involves the fundamental academic questions of nanoripple coupling (or superimposition) and guided self-organization. This review first focuses on the experimental progress made in developing representative strategies for the ordering enhancement of IB-induced nanoripples in terms of ion beams and targets. Second, we present our understanding of these developments from the perspectives of ripple superposition and guided self-organization. In particular, the basic conditions for ripple superposition under the non-conservation of mass are deduced based on the common features of the results from rocking bombardments of a single material and the bombardment of bilayer systems, providing insight into the mechanisms at play and deepening our understanding of these experimental observations. Finally, areas for future research are given, with the aim of improving ripple ordering from the viewpoints of ripple superimposition and guided self-organization. All this may re-stimulate interest in this field and will be of importance in advancing the academic research and practical applications of IB-induced nanopatterns.