Low energy Ar+ ion sputtering of liquid and solid indium

Liquid and solid indium targets were bombarded normally by Ar+ ions with energies (E0) ranging from 17 to 180 eV. The relative differential sputtering yields of the In were measured as a function of E0 and target temperature. At E0 = 107 eV, the relative yield of the liquid In was larger than that of the solid In by about 10%. The shapes of the yield versus E0 curves for the liquid and solid In were similar. The threshold of sputtering was about 17 eV for both liquid and solid. The effects of surface topography on sputtering yields seemed to be the same for the liquid and solid In. The higher yield of the liquid In is attributed to its lower binding energy