Sputtering of elemental metals by Ar cluster ions

Energetic cluster bombardment effects have been examined for various materials. The sputtering yields of various materials with Ar cluster ions are two orders of magnitude higher than those with Ar monomer ions. The sputtering yield by cluster ion bombardment is proportional to the reciprocal of the sublimation energy of the target atoms. A dramatic reduction of Cu contamination on silicon surfaces has been obtained with Ar cluster ion bombardment at low ion dose, Low damage surface processing can be achieved, because the energy of each constituent atom is very low, This feature is quite suitable for low damage processing of electronic materials.