Hoogerheide, David PaulGeorge, H. BolaGolovchenko, JeneAziz, Michael2011-11-142011Hoogerheide, David P., H. Bola George, Jene A. Golovchenko, and Michael J. Aziz. 2011. Thermal activation and saturation of ion beam sculpting. Journal of Applied Physics 109(7): 074312.0021-8979http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5345188We report a material-dependent critical temperature for ion beam sculpting of nanopores in amorphous materials under keV ion irradiation. At temperatures below the critical temperature, irradiated pores open at a rate that soon saturates with decreasing temperature. At temperatures above the critical temperature, the pore closing rate rises rapidly and eventually saturates with increasing temperature. The observed behavior is well described by a model based on adatom diffusion, but is difficult to reconcile with an ion-stimulated viscous flow model.en-USamorphous semiconductorselemental semiconductorsion beam effectsnanoporous materialssemiconductor thin filmssiliconsilicon compoundssurface diffusionJournal Article2011-11-1410.1063/1.3569705