Mass dependence of nitride sputtering

A molecular dynamics simulation was performed to study the sputtering yield Y for BN, AlN and GaN polycrystals of wurtzite structure as a function of the masses m ₁ of bombarding ions with energies from 200 to 2000 eV. A nonmonotonic behavior of the Y(m ₁) curve was obtained for the irradiation by low-energy ions, the curve having a maximum with a position being dependent on m₂/m₁ (m₂ is the average mass of atoms in a compound). For AlN and GaN the maximum was observed at m₂/m₁ = 2, and for BN at m₂/m₁ = 1. The effect of the mass of bombarding ions on the mean energies and energy spectra of sputtered particles, the depth of sputtering origin, and the generation of emitted atoms for nitrides was also investigated and discussed.