Investigation of the surface composition changes caused by Ar+‐, N+2‐ and He+‐Ion bombardment of CuNi and AgPd alloys using auger electron spectroscopy

Abstract

AbstractThe selectivity of the sputtering process of CuNi and AgPd alloys with different bulk compositions during Ar+‐, N+2‐ and He+‐ion bombardment was studied by the help of Auger electron spectroscopy. It was found that for CuNi alloys a Ni‐enrichment and for AgPd alloys a Pd enrichment takes place compared with bulk composition. The selectivity of the sputtering process decreases with decreasing sputtering ion mass. This result was explained in the case of CuNi alloys on the base of the dependence of elemental sputtering coefficients on the sputtering ion mass.