Evolution of the Energy and Angular Distributions of Emitted Atoms with a Variation in the Atomic Number of the Target Substance

Abstract

The emission of atoms from the (001) faces of a series of real and model single crystals is studied using computer simulation by means of the molecular-dynamics method. The evolution of the energy distributions of atoms sputtered from surfaces with polar and azimuthal-angle resolution is studied in the case of a variation in the atomic number of the target substance. For low energies, the maximum of overfocused sputtered atoms is more sensitive to a variation in the atomic number of the material substance than that of focused atoms. The evolution of polar-angle distributions of atoms sputtered from surfaces with energy and azimuthal-angle resolution is also studied in the case of a variation in the atomic number of the target substance. The maxima of the focused and overfocused sputtered atoms are very sensitive to a variation in the atomic number of the target substance. The observed shifts of the maxima are related to enhancement of the blocking effect as the atomic number of the target substance increases.