Simulation of the Sputtering Process

Abstract

In this chapter, we deal with sputteringof target materials bombarded with energetic particles. In this process, target atoms are removed from the surface by collisions between a projectile and/or recoil atoms produced and the atoms in the near-surface layers of the target material. Sputtering is utilized widely and positively as a useful technique to produce thin films, to make trace impurity analyses of materials of all sorts (e.g., Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy), for surface treatment and surface processing, and also for a variety of many other technological applications. However, sputtering plays an undesired role in some cases, on the other hand. The first wall and the divertor of a thermonuclear fusion device, for example, are eroded mainly by impinging plasma ions, which causes the core plasma to be contaminated if sputtered atoms enter it, resulting in insufficient heating of fuel. Therefore, quantitative knowledge on sputtering is required to be determined accurately and compiled for these scientific researches or technological development. Computer simulations of sputtering have contributed greatly to such purposes and to elucidate the pertinent processes. In what follows, we give a quantitative account of and highlight the results obtained mainly by us from computer simulations of sputtering.