Energy Distributions of Secondary Charged Particles Sputtered by Gas Cluster Ions

Energy spectra of charged particles emitted from a polycrystalline copper target bombarded with argon and xenon cluster ions have been experimentally studied. Positive particles sputtered with gas cluster ions possess significantly lower energies than do particles sputtered with atomic argon. The spectra of charged particles emitted under bombardment with xenon cluster ions are systematically narrower than analogous spectra obtained under bombardment with argon clusters. The discovered laws can be explained from the standpoint of features of energy transfer from the cluster ion to the target.