Interaction of gas cluster ions with solids: Experiment and computer simulations

Abstract The experimental angular distributions of atoms sputtered from polycrystalline W and Cu with 10 keV Ar and Xe cluster ions are presented. RBS was used to analyze a material deposited on a collector. It has been found that the mechanism of sputtering, connected with elastic properties of materials, has a significant influence on the angular distributions of sputtered components. The angular distributions were simulated using molecular dynamics calculations. A new approach taking into account experimental cluster mass distributions in the beam and surface topography was developed. This approach was fruitful for understanding the particular features of the experimental angular distributions of sputtered material.