Molecular-dynamics simulation of sputtering

A review is given on the method of molecular-dynamics computer simulation, and on the results obtained on the physics of sputtering. On the methodological side, the physical input (such as the interatomic potentials, coupling to the electronic system), the reliability, and computer time requirements of simulations are discussed. Molecular-dynamics results obtained after 1992, the time of the last review, are presented. Those results are emphasized, which are difficult to be obtained by other theoretical or computational means: sputtering from high-energy-density zones (spikes), cluster emission, formation of surface topography and their influence on sputtering, and chemical effects.