An overview of ion sputtering physics and practical implications

Abstract

The first part of this review surveys the forms of energy exchange between incident ions and target atoms, going on to an examination of the distribution in depth of deposited energy. This analysis is then used to interpret the sputtering yield under various circumstances. The last part of the paper is devoted to a survey of different forms of radiation damage in sputtered targets, with special reference to the many factors that modify the original composition profile: such modification is related to the bombardment conditions used in analytical techniques such as AES, ESCA or SIMS which may be used,inter alia, to determine composition profiles.