Sapphire crystals are widely used in optics and optoelectronics. In this regard, it is important to study the stability of crystals under external influence and the possibility of modifying their surfaces by external influence. This work presents the results of studying the processes of the action of an electron beam with an average energy of 70 keV or less under vacuum conditions on the surfaces of sapphire substrates of various orientations. The effect of etching a sapphire surface by an electron beam in vacuum at room temperature was discovered. The highest etching rate was observed for A-plane sapphire (the average pit etching rate was 10-6 µm3/s). It was shown that the rate of etching of a sapphire surface increased many times over when gold is deposited. An in situ method for studying the process of etching a sapphire surface using cathodoluminescence analysis was considered. Possible mechanisms of sapphire etching by a beam of bombarding electrons were considered. The results obtained could be important in solving the problem of the stability of sapphire windows used in various conditions, including outer space. In addition, the proposed method of metal-stimulated etching of a sapphire surface can be widely used in patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) technology and further forming low-dislocation light-emitting structures on them.
Keywords: anisotropy; cathodoluminescent analysis; electron etching; gold; light-emitting diodes; patterned sapphire substrate; windows.