Phys. Rev. B 68, 115426 (2003) [5 pages]Formation of excited Ag atoms in sputtering of silverReceived 6 December 2002; revised 28 May 2003; published 26 September 2003 A model is presented for the formation of excited Ag* (4d95s2) atoms during sputtering of Ag metal by energetic Ar+ ions. The essential part of the formation process is the slow diffusion of 4d holes in the collision cascade from the sites of violent Ag-Ag collisions to the emitted Ag atoms. A computer simulation of Ag cascades and of the 4d-hole transport allows us to quantify the model and to describe all characteristic features of the available experimental data, in particular the fact that the sputtered Ag* atoms exhibit a narrower kinetic energy distribution than those ejected in the electronic ground state. © 2003 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.68.115426
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.68.115426
PACS:
79.20.Rf, 79.20.Ap
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