Sputtering yield measurements with size-selected gas cluster ion beams

Abstract

AbstractAr cluster ions in the size range 1000�16000 atoms/cluster were irradiated onto Si substrates at incident energies of 10 and 20 keV and the sputtering yields were measured. Incident cluster ions were size-selected by using the time-of-flight (TOF) method. The sputtering yield was calculated from the sputtered Si volume and irradiation dose. It was found that the sputtering yields decreased with increasing incident cluster size under the same incident energy conditions. The integrated sputtering yields calculated from the sputtering yields measured for each size of Ar cluster ions, as well as the cluster size distributions, were in good agreement with experimental results obtained with nonselected Ar cluster ion beams.