A semiempirical formula for the energy dependence of the sputtering yield

Abstract

Abstract We have derived a simple empirical formula for sputtering yields of monatomic metals and semiconductors, taking the threshold effect for knock-on of atoms into account in the Sigmund theory. It is found that this semi-empirical formula fits to the energy dependence of the sputtering yields over a wide range of ion-target combinations. The best fit values of the parameters for the formula are given as a function of the ratio of the mass of target atoms and the mass of incident ions.