Sputtering induced by highly charged 208Pbq+ bombardment on Al surface

Highly charged ions (HCIs) carrying high Coulomb potential energy (Ep) could cause great changes in the physical and chemical properties of material surface when they bombard on the solid surface. In our work, the secondary ion yield dependence on highly charged Pbq+ (q = 4–36) bombardment on Al surface has been investigated. Aluminum films (99.99%) covered with a natural oxide film was chosen as our target and the kinetic energy (Ek) was varied between 80 keV and 400 keV. The yield with different incident angles could be described well by the equation developed by us. The equation consists of two parts due to the kinetic sputtering and potential sputtering. The physical interpretations of the coefficients in the said equation are discussed. Also the results on the kinetic sputtering produced by the nuclear energy loss on target surface are presented.