On Preferential Sputtering of Alloys under Ion Bombardment.

An analysis of both experimental and theoretical data on the study of preferential sputtering of nickel-based and copper-platinum alloys under ion beam bombardment has been carried out. Contrary to existing models, it has been shown that the main factor determining the process of preferential sputtering is the ratio of the surface binding energies of the components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]