Iron Nanoparticle Generation by He + Ion Bombardment

POMIRO, FERNANDO; PASSEGGI, MARIO C. G.; MONTORO, SILVIA; FERRÓN, JULIO; CANDIA, ADRIANA E.; RUANO, GUSTAVO

JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2017 vol. 121 p. 26117 - 26124

1932-7447

The effect of (1−4 keV) energetic He+ ionirradiation over clean pyrite substrates was studied by means ofa multitechnique approach, including scanning tunnelingmicroscopy (STM), scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), Xrayphotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ion scattering spectrometry(ISS), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Using thesedifferent techniques, we were able to characterize with a greatamount of detail the nanostructuring process. Thus, meanwhilethrough STM we found that upon ion irradiation the surfacebecomes structured with particles in the nanometer range; through XPS and ISS we determined that these particles are mostlycomposed of metallic iron. Through STM we also found that surface roughness increases with ion energies, and using oxygen as amarker, we characterize through AES the in-depth iron distribution. Finally, through STS we found changes in the pyrite bandgap induced by ion bombardment.