Abstract
The sputtering yields of carbon due to low-energy xenon ion bombardment have been observed below the theoretical threshold energy for carbon sputtering. A Monte Carlo simulation code ACAT has been used to calculate carbon sputtering due to xenon ion bombardment. The yields of carbon calculated with ACTA for pure carbon target differ from the experimental yields. Meanwhile, the results of ACAT with 14% xenon atoms retained in graphite are in good agreement with the experimental data. The accumulation of incident xenon ions in carbon target plays a decisive role in reducing the threshold energy of sputtering and the carbon sputtering due to xenon ion bombardment is enhanced by the accumulation of xenon in carbon target. The results calculated with ACAT have indicated that the enhancement of sputtering yields depend on the mass ration of mass of a projectile to mass of a target atom.
