Chemical sputtering from amorphous carbon under bombardment by deuterium atoms and molecules

Abstract

We perform classical molecular dynamics simulations of the chemical sputtering of deuterated amorphous carbon surfaces by D and D2, at energies of 7.5-30eVD-1. Particular attention is paid to the preparation of the target surfaces for varying impact projectile fluence, energy and species, to the vibrational state of D2 projectiles, as well as to the variation in sputtering yields with target surface and impact projectile. The methane and acetylene sputtering yields per deuteron, obtained with atomic and molecular projectiles, agree quantitatively with recent experimental values. We study the distribution of sputtered species, as well as their kinetic energy and angular spectra. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.