Electronic sputtering of solids by slow, highly charged ions: fundamentals and applications.

摘要

Electronic sputtering in the interaction of slow (v<v(sub Bohr)), highly charged ions (SHCI) with solid surfaces have been subject of controversial discussions for almost 20 years. We review results from recent studies of total sputtering yields and discuss distinct microscopic mechanisms (such as defect mediated desorption, Coulomb explosions and effects of intense electronic excitation) in the response of insulators and semiconductors to the impact of SHCI. We then describe an application of ions like Xe(sup 44+) and Au(sup 69+) as projectiles in time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry for surface characterization of semiconductors.