Ion-bombardment modification of surface morphology of solids: Pt. 2. Changes in surface shape

Two surface shape alteration methods, masked and maskless pattern etching, are described. They have been applied to modify various kinds of targets, including metals (99.9% aluminium and 99.9% titanium), metal alloys (stainless steel of 1 H18N9T and SS 316 LC), alumina ceramic (96% Al2O3) and Teflon. The results of experiments, where narrow beam glow discharge (GD) and broad beam Kaufman type guns have been used as ion sources, are presented. Approximation of a real surface shape profile by a so-called ''mean line'', which is very helpful in the case of ion patterned but extremely rough surfaces, is also discussed. Finally, the practical aspects of ion bombardment modification of surface shape phenomenon, i.e. its application to sputtering yield and sputtering velocity measurements, are shown. (author)