Ionization probability of atoms sputtered from metal surfaces

The process of secondary ion production under metal sputtering is examined. The conventional approach to the problem of electron change between an atomic particle and a metal surface is enriched by making allowance for some physical factors which include the closeness of the ground state energy of an ejected particle to the Fermi energy at the initial moment, the finite width of the electron state zone in a metal, the dependence of the exchange interaction amplitude on kinetic energy of the emitted particle, and the spatial diffusion of charge carriers in a metal. The given approach is used to markedly improve the agreement between theoretical and experimental results.