Sputtering and surface structure modification of gold thin films deposited onto silicon substrates under the impact of 20–160 keV Ar⁺ ions

Highlights: •Sputter yields were measured for gold thin films under keV Ar⁺ ion bombardment. •RBS analysis was used to derive energy dependence of sputtering yield. •Surface effects under Ar⁺ ion irradiation were studied by SEM and XRD analyses. -- Abstract: The induced sputtering and surface state modification of Au thin films bombarded by swift Ar⁺ ions under normal incident angle have been studied over an energy range of (20–160) keV using three complementary techniques: Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The sputtering yields determined by RBS measurements using a 2 MeV ⁴He⁺ ion beam were found to be consistent with previous data measured within the Ar⁺ ion energy region E ⩽ 50 keV, which are thus extended to higher bombarding energies. Besides, the SEM and XRD measurements clearly point out that the irradiated Au film surfaces undergo drastic modifications with increasing the Ar⁺ ion energy, giving rise to the formation of increasingly sized grains of preferred (1 1 1) crystalline orientations. The relevance of different sputtering yield models for describing experimental data is discussed with invoking the observed surface effects induced by the Ar⁺ ion irradiation