The angular distribution of sputtered particles from polycrystalline plane gold target by impact with positive ions of argon

The angular distribution of the sputtered atems under impact of positive ions of argon (3–7 keV energy) from a plane polycrystalline target of gold has been observed for various angles of impactΦ and energies of the impacting positive ions. The sputtered atoms were simultaneously collected on two cylindrical collectors in two planes, (1) in the incident plane by collector I and (2) in a plane perpendicular to it by collector II. Pronounced maxima have been found for the deposit on collector I for certain preferred directions determined byΦ, thus giving evidence regarding the operation of the single collision mechanism for sputtering. The angular distribution of the deposit on collector II was observed to be approximately of the cosine type, it was however observed to be under-cosine for low ion energies and over-cosine for higher energies. The distribution of the deposit on collector I was studied at various lateral distances ‘y’ from the axis of the collector and was shown to become of the cosine type for large ‘y’. Experimental evidence has been given to show that under the conditions of the experiment used, sputtering by the multicollision mechanism is predominant.