2D Angular distributions of ion sputtered germanium atoms under grazing incidence

Ion sputtering of germanium was studied within this work. Argon and nitrogen ions with energies of 20 key were used for the sputtering experiments. Grazing ion incidence angles in the range of 60-85 degrees were examined experimentally and by Monte-Carlo simulations. The range of ion incidence angles was chosen in order to observe a contribution of primary knock-on atoms to the total angular distribution. Experiments were performed using the collector technique. The collectors, 300 mm silicon wafers, were covered with a sub-monolayer concentration of germanium and were examined afterwards with spatial resolution using total X-ray reflection fluorescence (TXRF). Initially, simulation results significantly deviated from experiments. Therefore, the model of ion penetration into a target was modified, resulting in a better agreement between simulation and measurement.