Low Energy Xenon Ion Sputtering Yield Measurements

# Presented as Paper IEPC-01-309 at the 27 International Electric Propulsion Conference, Pasadena, CA, 15-19 October, 2001 ∗ This paper is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Low energy (<500 eV) xenon ion sputtering yields were measured with a tantalum target. The sputtering was carried out in a UHV chamber. The targets were bombarded with a xenon ion beam generated by an ion gun capable of producing a beam current of approximately 1.0 μA. The sputtered atoms were captured on a semi-cylindrical aluminum collector strip. The thin film on the collector strip was analyzed with a Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometer. The sputtering yield was obtained from the atomic density and the thickness of the sputtered film. The measured sputtering yields were compared to those found in literature.

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