Silica sputtering by noble gas projectiles: elucidating the effect of cluster species with molecular dynamic simulation.

The interaction of gas cluster projectiles with the surface of the inorganic compounds is still not a fully understood issue. To clarify the features of silica surface sputtering by noble gas cluster projectiles of various species at normal and oblique incidences, molecular dynamics simulations are employed. The impacts of the Ne, Ar, and Kr clusters with the sizes N of 561 and 923 atoms and scaled kinetic energy E/N from 10 to 140 eV/atom are compared. It is found that the projectile energy per impact area unit E/S and per mass unit of cluster E/M are generalizing parameters of the sputtering efficiency of material in the form of scaled yield Y. The preferential sputtering of oxygen atoms is more sensitive to gas cluster species at normal incidence and decreases significantly with increasing projectile energy E/N. The regularities of the redistribution of the initial kinetic energy of projectiles between the scattered cluster atoms, ejected target atoms, and the target are revealed under the various impact conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]