Low-Energy Irradiation Effects of Gas Cluster Ion Beams

摘要

A cluster-ion irradiation system with cluster-size selection has been developed to study the effects of the cluster size for surface processes using cluster ions. A permanent magnet with a magnetic field of 1.2 T is installed for size separation of large cluster ions. Trace formations at HOPG surface by the irradiation with size-selected Ar-cluster ions under an acceleration energy of 30 keV were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. Generation behavior of the craterlike traces is strongly affected by the number of constituent atoms (cluster size) of the irradiating cluster ion. When the incident cluster ion is composed of 100 to 3000 atoms, craterlike traces are observed on the irradiated surfaces. In contrast, such traces are not observed at all with the irradiation of the cluster ions composed of over 5000 atoms. Such behavior is discussed on the basis of the kinetic energy per constituent atom of the cluster ion. To study GCIB irradiation effects on macromolecules, GCIB was irradiated on DNA molecules absorbed on graphite surface. Using GCIB irradiation, many more DNA molecules were sputtered away compared with the monomer-ion irradiation.