Erosion of Dielectric Solids by High-Energy Ions

Abstract

A fast ion passing through matter loses energy mainly by its interaction with electrons along its path. In an insulator the resulting electronic excitation may be sufficiently long lived that some of this energy is transferred to motion of the atomic nuclei, which leads to track formation and to the ejection of atoms from surfaces where the ion enters or leaves the material. The resulting erosion involves sputtering yields that are comparable to those observed at much lower bombarding energies where nuclear recoil processes dominate the energy loss of the incident ion. This paper briefly summarizes our experimental and theoretical work that concerns this electronic excitation erosion mechanism. The solids in which we have observed such effects include SiO₂, CaF₂, UF₄, Al₂O₃, and LiNbO₃.

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