Computer Simulation of Copper in the Liquid Phase and the Sputtering of Liquid Copper by One KeV Argon Ions

摘要

A molecular dynamics computer simulation was used to investigate several techniques of generating liquid Cu targets. The target with the best liquid characteristics was subjected to one KeV argon ion bombardment as a preliminary study of the sputtering of liquids. The techniques of warming by impulse and warming by initially displacing atoms from their equilibrium positions were compared. Both methods produced targets with good liquid properties. The energy became equally partitioned between kinetic and potential energy and all targets equilibrated within 400 fs. The range of a typical atom during the time of equilibration was found to be restricted to its initial neighborhood. The preliminary sputtering study resulted in a sputtering yield increase of 40% over the solid target, for a low index crystal plane. Theses. Keywords: Liquid copper computer simulation, Sputtering. (MJM)