Heavy-ion sputtering yield of silicon

The sputtering yield for 45-keV Ar+ irradiation of amorphous silicon is found to be in very good agreement with theory. In connection with earlier reported yields measured relative to those of argon, we here report absolute yields for 16 different ions (7⩽Z1⩽83). In no case does the difference between theory and experiment amount to more than 15%. The energy dependence of lead sputtering yield on silicon (25 keV⩽E⩽500 keV) is also reported and found to agree with theory.