The importance of self-sputtering by low energy ions in partially ionized beam deposition

In ion-assisted deposition techniques such as partially ionized beam deposition, ions derived from the depositing material itself concurrently bombard the surface during thin film growth. The ion percentage in the deposition beam ranges from less than 0.1% to 100% (ion beam deposition) with the ion energy varying between a few eV and several keV. When the sputtering yield of the self-sputtering is greater than one, there is a critical ion percentage, for a given ion energy, above which no net deposition can be obtained. The self-sputtering yield is shown to have a square root dependence on the ion energy above the threshold energy by fitting the experimental data obtained from the literature. The critical ion percentage for Al, Cu, Au, Ag, and C is then calculated and plotted as a function of the ion energy so that deposition and no-deposition regions are illustrated in terms of the ion energy and ion percentage