A computer simulation of the surface channeling of MeV heavy charged particles

Abstract

The surface channeling of 1.5 MeV N⁺ ions incident near the [011] direction on the (100) surface and near the [001] direction on the (110) surface of Ge crystals has been studied using computer simulation. The trajectories of ions incident at angles near the critical angle for axial channeling were traced. The energy spectra, the angular distributions and the reflection-depth distributions of scattered ions were obtained. The calculated energy spectra for both directions are found to be composed of a surface peak and a broad peak, the latter being at the low energy side of the surface peak. The height of the surface peak and the energy position of the broad peak are found to depend on the azimuthal component and the tilt component of the incident angle, respectively. This result is explained to be due to the focusing effect of channeled ions deffected by the atomic rows at the surface. It is shown that the calculated angular distributions of scattered ions form a half-ring pattern and clear dips appear in the scattering intensity curve along the half-ring. The dips are found to be caused by the blocking for scattered ions by the atomic rows arrayed in the major planar directions. Based on the calculated results, it is suggested that the measurement of the blocking dip under the focusing condition at an appropriate azimuthal incident angle gives useful information on the surface structure.