Formation of metastable excited states during sputtering of transition metals

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.55.780· OSTI ID:439041

Wucher, A ^[1]; Sroubek, Z ^[2]

---

1. Fachbereich Physik, Universitaet Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Strae, D-67663 Kaiserslautern (Germany)
2. Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Academy of Science of Czech Republic, Chaberska 57, 18251 Prague 8 (Czech Republic)

We propose a simple model which treats the formation of metastable excited neutral atoms during sputtering of a transition metal as a two step process. First, the energy deposited into the electronic system of the solid by electronic energy losses of all moving particles in the collision cascade is considered to lead to a locally altered equilibrium electronic state of the solid. It is found that this step is dominated by collective interaction with the conduction band electrons rather than by electron promotion in binary atom-atom collisions. Second, sputtered excited atoms are assumed to be formed by resonant neutralization of excited ions (reflecting the altered equilibrium state) while crossing the surface. It is shown that this model explains the total as well as the velocity dependent excitation probability observed in recent experiments on sputtered neutral silver atoms, which cannot be understood in terms of existing theories describing the formation of excited states in sputtering. {copyright} {ital 1996} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 439041
• Journal Information: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter, Journal Name: Physical Review, B: Condensed Matter Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 55; ISSN 0163-1829; ISSN PRBMDO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ATOM COLLISIONS
CHARGE EXCHANGE
ENERGY SPECTRA
METASTABLE STATES
RESONANCE SCATTERING
SPUTTERING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS