Molecular-dynamics simulation of surface sputtering by energetic rare-gas cluster impact

The molecular-dynamics simulation is used for simulation of sputtering of gold and silicon surfaces by accelerated Ar^-_n cluster ions with n ∼ 55-200 and energies of 10-100 eV per cluster atom. The sputtering yield Y can be described by a power dependency Y ∝ E^2.35 on the total cluster energy. The result of the calculation agrees with the experimental data point at the energy of 29 keV and cluster size of 300 Ar atoms. The simulation shows that the sputtered flux has a significant lateral-momentum component and the sputtered surface materials contain not only atoms but also small clusters.