Sputtering of beryllium oxide by deuterium at various temperatures simulated with molecular dynamics

Abstract

The sputtering yield of beryllium oxide (BeO) by incident deuterium (D) ions, for energies from 10 eV to 200 eV, has been calculated for temperatures between 300 K and 800 K using classical molecular dynamics. First, cumulative irradiations are carried out to build up a concentration of D in the material, equal to the experimentally measured concentration, that varies from an atomic fraction of 0.12 (300 K–500 K) to 0.02 (800 K). After building up the concentration of D, non-cumulative irradiations are carried out to estimate the sputtering yields of BeO. For all incident energies, the sputtering yield peaks at 500 K, being closely related to the decrease of the concentration of D above this temperature. At 10 eV, the concentration of D on the surface drives the temperature dependence, while above 30 eV, it is the amount of surface damage created during the cumulative irradiation.