Measurement of the Energy Distributions of Secondary Ions from Pure Metals and Alloys

Abstract

Precise measurement of the energy distribution of secondary ions was attempted in order to study the correlation with surface properties. The experiments revealed that the peak of the energy distribution shifts towards the lower energy as the partial pressure of oxygen becomes higher for both Al and Mg under Ar⁺ ion bombardment. The measurement was then extended to Ni-W and Cu-Ni alloy samples to see whether any difference between the peaks of secondary ions of constituent atoms could be found, the same as those of sputtered Ni- and W-atoms from Ni-W alloy reported by Oechsner et al. The results suggest that no substantial difference exists in the energy distribution of secondary ions of constituent atoms for both the Ni-W and Cu-Ni alloys even though the peak positions of the secondary ions of constituent atoms with higher sublimation energy are always slightly higher.