Molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the interaction of Ar clusters with silicon and germanium single crystals at a fixed cluster size of 923 atoms and a total kinetic energy of 10 keV. A comparative analysis was conducted to examine the effects of argon cluster impacts on the surface morphology of silicon and germanium as the cluster incidence angle varied from 0° to 75° with respect to the surface normal. The depth of amorphization and the height of hillocks induced in silicon and germanium after argon cluster bombardment were estimated. Angular dependences of the crater diameters along and perpendicular to the cluster incidence direction were demonstrated. Comparisons of crater characteristics and the ratios of longitudinal to transverse crater dimensions revealed material-specific features of cluster–surface interactions. At oblique incidence, a peak in the ratio of displaced atoms in the amorphous layer to those above the surface was observed. The potential energy of silicon and germanium target atoms following cluster impact was visualized and estimated. Moreover, the redistribution patterns of the cluster’s initial kinetic energy among the target, scattered cluster atoms, and sputtered target atoms were compared for silicon and germanium at incidence angles from 0° to 75°.
Nikolaev et al. (Sat,) studied this question.