Abstract
Two regimes are discerned experimentally in the electronic sputtering of silicon suboxide () films under irradiation with 50 MeV Cu ions. For the removal rate is low and increases with ; for the removal rate is high and about constant [ atoms per incoming ion]. The transition occurs at values where the electronic structure of has a transition. We propose a model, which connects the electronic sputter rate with the electronic structure considering the lifetime of the ion track.
- Received 4 February 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.245504
©2005 American Physical Society