Potential sputtering by Highly Charged Ion bombardment on Au surface Original Research Article

The sputtered particle yields produced by Pbq+(q=4−36) with constant kinetic energy bombardment on Au surface were measured. The sputtering could be separated to two parts: no potential sputtering is observed when q<24 (View the MathML source) and the sputtering yield increases with View the MathML source for the higher charge states of q⩾24. The potential sputtering is mainly contributed by the relaxation of electronic excitations on target surface produced by the potential energy transfer from projectile to target atoms.