Differential characteristics of the particles sputtered by gas cluster ions at elevated temperatures. Molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The effect of the target temperature on sputtering by gas cluster ions was investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. The temperature of <111> copper target was set in range from 300 K to 1100 K, and bombarding 10 keV argon clusters had the size from 50 to 500 atoms. Sputter yield was found to increase with the temperature. The increase depended on the cluster size, and its value was much higher than it had been considered previously for nonlinear sputtering. Differential characteristics of the process, such as angular, energy, and time distributions of the sputtered atoms, as well as their initial positions, were obtained to promote understanding of the mechanisms involved. The dynamics of the collision crater size and its shape were described. The concept of temperature inside the collision area was used to explain the results.