Energy distributions of charged and neutral hydrogen atoms backscattered from metal surfaces bombarded with 5 to 18 keV protons

Abstract

Polycrystalline targets of Be, V, Nb, Mo and Ta have been bombarded with protons with primary energies in the range from 5 to 18 keV. The energy distributions of the charged and the neural particles backscattered at 135° with respect to the primary beam direction have been measured between 200 eV and 18 keV. The energy distribution of the neutrals has a pronounced maximum between 0.5 and 1 keV whose position does not depend on the primary energy or the target material, or the angle of emergence of the scattered particles. The energy distribution of the charged particles shows a less pronounced maximum between 1 and 1.5 keV. Only slight differences in the shape of the energy distributions have been observed for different target materials. The fractional number of charged backscattered particles increases from ≈; 3% at 300 eV to ≈; 40% at 18 keV.