Terrace-area distribution and roughness of ion-bombarded single-crystal surfaces

A simple model of the initial stages of sputtering is developed. Terrace-ar ea distribution, i.e., the distribution of exposed area fractions, and surf ace roughness during low-energy ion bombardment of an initially flat single -crystal surface can be computed. The results compare well with previously published experimental work [Poelsema et al., Phys. Rev. B 41, 11 609 (1990 )] and allow for the determination of the sum of sputtering and adatom yiel ds from thermal energy helium atom scattering data.