Universal mechanism for ion-induced nanostructure formation on III-V compound semiconductor surfaces

We have examined the formation of nanostructures on ion-irradiated compound semiconductor surfaces. We computed the ion doses needed to fully deplete group V elements from the surfaces. These group V depletion doses are in good agreement with the measured threshold ion doses for nucleation of group III-rich nanostructures on a wide variety of III-V compound semiconductor surfaces. Since the group V depletion doses decrease with increasing sputtering yield, these results suggest a universal nanostructure formation mechanism which depends upon the total sputtering yield of each III-V compound.