Solid argon is a model system for studies of radiative and nonradiative processes associated with electronic excitation by MeV light ion bombardment. The electronic excited states, excitons and excimers, have been extensively studied in this material and careful studies have also been made of the ejection (sputtering) of atoms from the surface. The sputtering requires transfer of energy from el...

Transition metal nitrides like CrN and TiN are widely used in automotive applications due to their high hardness and wear resistance. Recently, we showed that a multilayer architecture of CrN and TiN, deposited using the hybrid-high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) and direct current magnetron sputtering (DCMS)-HIPIMS/DCMS deposition technique, results in coatings which indicate not ...

Off-normal ion bombardment of solid targets with energetic particles often leads to development of periodically modulated structures on the surfaces of eroded materials. Ion-induced surface roughening, in its turn, causes sputtering yield changes. We report on a comprehensive theoretical study of the effect of rippled surface morphology on the sputtering yields. The yield is computed as a funct...

Low energy sputtering yields at grazing incidence have been investigated experimentally using a quartz crystal microbalance QCM technique. This method involved precoating the QCM with a thin film of the desired target material and relating the resonance frequency shift directly to mass loss during ion bombardment. A highly focused, low divergence ion beam provided a well defined incidence angle...

Tungsten diselenide (WSe2) film was obtained by rapid selenization of magnetron sputtered tungsten (W) film. To prevent WSe2 film peeling off from the substrate during selenization, the W film was designed with a double-layer structure. The first layer was deposited at a high sputtering-gas pressure to form a loose structure, which can act as a buffer layer to release stresses caused by WSe2 gr...

Magnetron sputtering has become the process of choice for the deposition of a wide range of industrially important coatings. Examples include hard, wear-resistant coatings, low friction coatings, corrosion resistant coatings, decorative coatings and coatings with speci"c optical, or electrical properties. Although the basic sputtering process has been known and used for many years, it is the de...

Following the recent report by Andersen et al. of extremely large nonlinear sputtering yields caused by the bombardment of gold targets with small, high energy gold clusters [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80 (1998) 5433], we carried out simulations showing: (1) that the thermal spike phase of the collision cascade contributes significantly to these nonlinear yields; and (2) that individual 'mega-events' wit...

The ejection of atoms and molecules from an atmosphere due to the energy deposited by plasma bombardment has been shown to play a role in the loss of species from certain planetary and satellite atmospheres. This ejection, often referred to as sputtering, can be produced by the bombarding plasma [Watson et al., 1980; McGrath and Johnson, 1987] and by locally generated "pickup ions" [e.g., Kozyr...

The lithium sputtering yield from lithium and tin-lithium surfaces in the liquid state under bombardment by low-energy, singly charged particles as a function of target temperature is measured by using the Ion-surface Interaction Experiment facility. Total erosion exceeds that expected from conventional collisional sputtering after accounting for lithium evaporation for temperatures between 200...