An XPS study of silicon surface sputtered by low energy ion beam in conjunction with stainless steel seeding

We fabricate nano-patterned Si surface using Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) by 500 eV Ar+ ion beam at normal incidence with simultaneous metal co-deposition by using stainless steel (SS) as seeding material for different sputtering times at room temperature. Investigation of chemical states from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement reveals the presence of metal impurities viz. Fe and Cr originating from SS. The high-resolution XPS core level spectra of the detected elements are characterized and subsequent analysis of their compositional details indicates the formation of metal-oxide and metal-silicide on the sample surface.