Eur. Phys. J. D 43, 181-184 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2007-00104-y

Argon cluster impacts on layered silicon, silica, and graphite surfaces

¹ University of Helsinki, Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 43, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
² Gothenburg University, Department of Physics, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden

Corresponding author: ^a juha.samela@helsinki.fi

Received: 24 July 2006
Revised: 30 September 2006
Published online: 24 May 2007

Abstract

Seven structures of covalently bonded materials are used as targets of 6 keV Ar₁₂ cluster bombardment in classical molecular dynamics simulations. Energy deposition, cratering and Ar ranges are compared and remarkable differences are found between the structures. In particular, bombardment of a thin 2 nm silica layer on top of the Si(111) surface is shown to behave quite differently from bombardment of pure Si.