We have calculated the energy distributions of sputtered Nb and Cu atoms ejected from amorphous targets under low‐energy Ar bombardment. A formula based on elementary kinetic gas theory is used to calculate the subsequent energy loss of the ejected atoms due to collisions in the sputtering gas. The energy distributions of the sputtered atoms arriving at the substrate is compared with the distributions obtained using thermal evaporation techniques. This comparison indicates that the preparation of epitaxial metallic films, such as Layered Ultrathin Coherent Structures using sputtering techniques may have fundamental advantages over thermal evaporation.
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