Origin of atomic clusters during ion sputtering

Rehn, LE; Birtcher, RC; Donnelly, SE; Baldo, PM; Funk, L

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the size distributions of small clusters ( n<=40 n = number of atoms/cluster) generated by sputtering obey an inverse power law with an exponent between -8 and -4. Here we report electron microscopy studies of the size distributions of larger clusters ( n>=500) sputtered by high-energy ion impacts. These new measurements also yield an inverse power law, but one with an exponent of -2 and one independent of sputtering yield, indicating that the large clusters are produced when shock waves, generated by subsurface displacement cascades, ablate the surface.

Citation

Rehn, L., Birtcher, R., Donnelly, S., Baldo, P., & Funk, L. (2001). Origin of atomic clusters during ion sputtering. Physical review letters, 87(20), 207601-1-207601-4. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.207601

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 12, 2001
• Deposit Date: Aug 22, 2007
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2007
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 1079-7114
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 87
• Issue: 20
• Pages: 207601-1-207601-4
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.207601
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.207601
• Related Public URLs: http://www.aps.org/; http://prl.aps.org/