Calculating Sputter Rate Angular Dependence Using Optical Profilometry (Preprint)

Abstract : This work attempts to determine angular dependence curves for sputter rates of a material based on a single experimental measurement. An aluminum cylinder was exposed to a BHT-200 plume, and the resulting erosion profile was measured. This profile was fed into an optimizer, which calculated the angular dependence curve to match the given erosion profile. The calculated profile matched well with the experimental profile; however, neither matched well with previously published results. The likely cause of this discrepancy was the non-uniformity of the ion source used. As a further validation of the optimization routine, the angular dependence curve was input to the COLISEUM plasma modeling code, which generated the same erosion profile as the experimental data.