POTENTIAL SPUTTERING OF CLEAN SIO2 BY SLOW HIGHLY-CHARGED IONS

The recently discovered phenomenon of potential sputtering, i.e., the efficient removal of neutral and ionized target particles from certain insulator surfaces due to the potential rather than the kinetic energ y of impinging slow highly charged ions, has now also been observed fo r stoichiometric SiO2 surfaces. Using a sensitive quartz crystal micro balance technique, total sputter yields induced by Arq+ (q less than o r equal to 14) and Xeq+ (q less than or equal to 27) ions have been de termined for LIF and SiO2 surfaces. The primary mechanisms for potenti al sputtering (defect mediated sputtering) and its considerable practi cal relevance for highly charged ion-induced surface modification of i nsulators are discussed.