Effect of Temperature on the Sputtering of Liquid Metals
Abstract
The Ion-surface InterAction Experiment (IIAX) measures the absolute, angular resolved and self-sputtering yields of many particle/target combinations. Measurements of solid and liquid Lithium and Tin-Lithium sputtering yields indicate temperature-dependant sputtering of liquid metals. The total sputtering yield does not vary much between the solid and liquid states at and temperatures near the liquid-metal's melting point. As the temperature increases beyond the metal's melting point, erosion is enhanced; however, the degree of enhancement varies from metal to metal. The Allain-Ruzic model provides the physical explanation of the temperature enhancement of liquid metal sputtering yields and predicts the observed temperature enhancement for liquid lithium. The model suggests that the main factors that change as a result of increased target temperature are the bonding nature of atoms with their nearest neighbor and the change in the spatial distribution of deposited energy.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DPPBO3003R