Abstract
Argon and xenon bombardment of gold surfaces at 5 to 20 keV resulted in considerable erosion and the formation of cones. A high cone density was found to be characteristic of amorphous (mechanically polished) surfaces whilst a low cone density with height contrast of the individual grains was discovered on polycrystalline (etched) surfaces. The cone angles were found to vary only slowly with energy, indicating an ion/atom potential that varied much more rapidly with separation than predicted by using a screened coulomb potential.
The cones were found to have hexagonal facets and in the case of a polycrystalline specimen, two families of cones were found. These phenomena are attributed to single crystal effects. Similar bombardment of single crystal specimens resulted in a much lower sputtering rate and no cones were generated, probably as a result of channelling of the incident ion beam.
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Wilson, I.H., Kidd, M.W. A study of cones developed by ion-bombardment of gold. J Mater Sci 6, 1362–1366 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549681
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549681