MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS SIMULATION OF SURFACE SPUTTERING BY ENERGETIC RARE-GAS CLUSTER-IMPACT

The molecular-dynamics simulation is used for simulation of sputtering of gold and silicon surfaces by accelerated Ar-n(-) cluster ions with n similar to 55-200 and energies of 10-100 eV per cluster atom. The s puttering yield Y can be described by a power dependency Y proportiona l to E(2.35) on the total cluster energy. The result of the calculatio n agrees with the experimental data point at the energy of 29 keV and cluster size of 300 Ar atoms. The simulation shows that the sputtered flux has a significant lateral-momentum component and the sputtered su rface materials contain not only atoms but also small clusters.