A semi-classical description of excitation in sputtering and in electron-atom collisions

Abstract

The application of a simplistic, semi-classical approach for describing excitation in sputtering and in electron-atom collisions is discussed. It is shown that the approach is able to describe relative populations when Si I, Si II and Si III are formed in sputtering as well as relative populations when Rb I, Rb II and Rb III are formed in electron-atom impact. The approach also compares favorably with the Born-approximation calculations of Vainshtein et al. for Rb I, provided it is again used to describe populations in a relative (rather than absolute) sense.