Noble gas retention in the target during rotating cylindrical magnetron sputtering

A rotating cylindrical magnetron with a Ti target was sputtered in pure Xe or in a mixture of Xe and N2. The atomic composition of the target surface during sputtering has been investigated by in situ Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The noble gas atomic ratio at the target surface is around 3.4% or 9.8% for sputtering in pure Xe and with 10% N2 addition, respectively. Energy resolved mass spectrometry reveals that some of the implanted Xe atoms are sputtered from the target. A radiation enhanced diffusion/detrapping/sputtering mechanism is proposed to model the flux of noble gas leaving the target during sputtering.