Carbon sputtering yield measurements at grazing incidence

Abstract

In this investigation, carbon sputtering yields were measured experimentally at varying angles of incidence under Xe + bombardment. The measurements were obtained by etching a coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with a low energy ion beam. The material properties of the carbon targets were characterized with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. C sputtering yields measured under Ar + and Xe + bombardment at normal incidence displayed satisfactory agreement with previously published data over an energy range of 200 eV–1 keV. For Xe + ions, the dependence of the yields on angle of incidence θ was determined for 0° ≤ θ ≤ 80°. Over this range, an increase in C sputtering yield by a factor of 4.8 was observed, with the peak in yield occurring at 70°. This is a much higher variation compared to Xe + → Mo yields under similar conditions, a difference that may be attributed to higher scattering of the incident particles transverse to the beam direction than in the case of Xe + → C. In addition, the variation of the yields with θ was not strongly energy dependent. Trapping of Xe in the surface was observed, in contrast to observations using the QCM technique with metallic target materials. Finally, target surface roughness was characterized using atomic force microscope measurements to distinguish between the effects of local and overall angle of incidence of the target.