Features of the energy distribution of secondary particles upon the ion bombardment of graphite

Abstract

The secondary emission of carbon atoms from the (0001) plane of graphite nanocrystallites bombarded with argon ions with energies of 1 and 10 keV and the incidence angle α = 45° is investigated. The unusual oscillating energy distributions of secondary C+ ions with main maxima E max in the range of 40–60 eV and peaks corresponding to the energies E 1 ≈ 20, 30, 70, 80, and 100 eV have been revealed. The C+ ion yield decreases, the energy spectrum increases, and the maximum E max shifts to larger energies E 1 with increasing emission angle (with respect to the normal to the surface). The secondary-ion emission from the (0001) face of graphite is numerically simulated with allowance for the charge exchange of secondary ions to obtain a qualitative explanation of the observed results.