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Experimental study and thermal spike modeling of sputtering in SiO 2 thin films under MeV Au q + heavy ion irradiation
Author(s) -
Boubir Abir,
Mammeri Ster,
Dib Amel,
Ammi Hakim,
Msimanga Mandla,
Bouldjedri Abdelhamid,
Matshali Christopher,
Mlungisi Nkosi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.6973
Subject(s) - sputtering , stopping power , kinetic energy , silicon , ion , irradiation , atomic physics , yield (engineering) , thin film , materials science , projectile , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , nuclear physics , physics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
The sputtering of silicon dioxide (SiO 2 /Si) thin films deposited onto silicon substrates and irradiated by swift Au q + heavy ions ( q = +4 to +9) has been investigated both by experiment and via numerical modeling by varying the kinetic energy from 10 to 40 MeV. The induced sputtering yields were determined experimentally via the Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) technique using a 2‐MeV He + ion beam. The obtained experimental results were first plotted versus the target electronic stopping power together with previous data available for the same projectile‐target system at high kinetic energies, indicating increased sputtering yields with increasing electronic energy loss. Then, the whole data were compared with numerical sputtering yield values derived both from the inelastic thermal spike model and the SRIM‐2013 simulation code by including, respectively, nonlinear elastic spikes and linear elastic collision cascades. A good agreement was observed between the measured sputtering yield data and i‐TS predicted values over higher incident energies used by using refined parameters of the ion slowing down with reduced thermophysical properties of the SiO 2 thin film. Finally, the synergy between electronic and nuclear energy loss processes inducing sputtering at low incident energies was discussed through the comparison between experimental and numerical yield data.