The collisional process of glancing angle gas cluster ion impact was studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Ar-2000 Clusters accelerated to 20 keV were irradiated onto a Si(100) target at various incident angles ranging from 0 degrees to 80 degrees. The investigation of the surface profile after collision revealed that there is a certain incident angle where the incident cluster penetrates the target surface to cause crater-like damage. For larger incident angles, such as 80 degrees from the surface normal, the cluster slides on the target surface without creating displacements. This mechanism of non-damage irradiation was examined with respect to the perpendicular component of incident energy. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.