S. Grigorian and U. Pietsch
University of Siegen, Institute of Physics, 57072 Siegen, Germany

J. Grenzer
Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, Institut fuer Ionenstrahlphysik und Materialforschung, P.O.Box 510119, 01314 Dresden, Germany

D. P. Datta, T. K. Chini, S. Hazra, and M. K. Sanyal
Surface Physics Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700 064, India

Using grazing-incidence x-ray scattering technique we have investigated the evolution of the damage profile of the transition layer between the ion-induced ripple-like pattern on top surface and the ripples at buried crystalline interface in silicon created after irradiation with 60 keV Ar⁺ ions under 60^o. The transition layer consists in a defect-rich crystalline part and a complete amorphous part. The crystalline regions are highly strained but relaxed for low dose and high dose irradiation, respectively. The appearance of texture in both cases shows that the damage of the initial crystalline structure by the ion bombardment takes place along particular crystallographic directions.