Secondary ion emission from V and Al surfaces under keV light ion on bombardment

Abstract

Positive secondary ion mass spectra have been measured for oxidized polycrystalline V and Al targets bombarded by H +, H 2 +, He + and Ar + ions with beam energies ranging from 25 keV to 275 keV. An enhancement in the relative yield of positive ions of electronegative surface constituents, in particular O + is observed under light ion bombardment. Metallic ion intensities were found to decrease with increasing primary beam energy in proportion to the estimated total sputtering yields for these targets and beams. In contrast, the O + secondary ion intensities were independent of primary beam energy. This behavior is similar to that observed previously with heavy ions of comparable velocities. In addition, for the projectiles and targets used in these measurements, no energy thresholds or collective effects were observed in the emission of any positive ion. Published data on secondary ion emission resulting from electron, photon, and heavy ion bombardment are compared with these results.