Cluster formation in sputtering: A molecular dynamics study using the MD/MC-corrected effective medium potential

Abstract

We report on a molecular dynamics simulation of cluster emission during sputtering of metals using a new many-body potential developed by DePristo and co-workers. For the specific case of silver as a sample target material, it is shown that this potential allows a much more realistic description of small clusters than the EAM potential used in our previous work. While this has a relatively large effect on the relative abundance of clusters within the total flux of sputtered material, other cluster properties like kinetic energy distributions and internal excitation are found to be less affected. By comparison with corresponding experimental data, we conclude that the formation of sputtered silver clusters can now be almost quantitatively modeled by the simulation.