Light emission from oxygen covered Al and Cu surfaces

Abstract

Ion beam induced light emission is used to investigate the sputtering yield, S O, of oxygen atoms on the surfaces of a polycrystalline copper and an Al(1 1 1) target. Under Ar + and Ne + ion bombardment of Al(1 1 1) and polycrystalline copper targets, spectral lines of Cu I and Al I emitting from sputtered excited atoms are measured as a function of the oxygen partial pressure, wavelength and beam energy. The light emission for two Al I lines (3082 and 3962 Å) and Cu I lines (3247 and 3274 Å) are proportional to the oxygen partial pressure (∼1×10 −4 Torr). Above 2×10 −4 Torr, the light intensities start to decrease which is consistent with other measurements. From saturated-oxygen covered target surfaces, light intensities of Al I and Cu I lines are measured as a function of time and oxygen partial pressures. The sputtering yields could be determined from the curves of spectral lines directly. For 10 and 20 keV Ar + ions bombarding the copper surface, the oxygen sputtering yields are 0.34 and 0.22 (atoms/ion), respectively. The same copper target was bombarded by Ne + ions at 5 and 10 keV, the oxygen sputtering yields are 0.87 and 0.59, respectively. For 10, 15, and 20 keV Ar + bombarding an Al(1 1 1) target, the obtained sputtering yields are 0.44, 0.31, and 0.2 (atoms/ion), respectively.