Interaction of 300–5000 eV ions with GaAs(110)

The interaction of 0.3–5 keV Ar+ and Xe+ ions with GaAs(110) in the initial stages of sputtering was studied with scanning tunneling microscopy. At normal incidence, these ions create pits typically of 1–5 unit cells and, on average, each ion leads to the removal of about 1.5 surface atoms from the surface. The sputtering yield depends weakly on ion mass and energy. The bombardment events are mainly in the single knock-on regime, with some in the linear cascade regime. The mechanism of ion-surface impact is discussed.