Beam induced sputtering of chromium—iron based alloy

Changes induced in crystalline solids during bombardment depend on the beam characteristics and target properties. For neutral incident beams and multicomponent or multiphase materials, the controlling factors of interaction processes are not so well defined, in spite of the fact that those materials have recently become of interest in view of an increasing number of new applications. In this work the results of sputtering yield and sputter-topographic evolution of pure iron and iron based alloys (martensitic and austenitic stainless steel) bombarded by different incident beams (ions and fast oxide particles) are presented. Sputtering yields at perpendicular and oblique incidence were determined for: Ar ions in the energy domain 3–50 keV and the beam of clean silica energy up to 9 meV/u. It is found that whatever the mechanism of sputtering is, a similarity between erosion mechanisms does exist. The “mechanical sputtering” yield or erosion shows the same energy and angular dependence as when an ion beam is used. All erosion mechanisms should not be classified as sputtering, but experimental data for irregular oxide particle bombardment suggest that processes are also controlled by knock-on collisions and that the collision cascade governs the “mechanical sputtering” process.