Fast heavy ion induced desorption

Abstract

When solid material is irradiated by high energetic heavy ions, atomic, molecular and cluster particles are ejected from the surface with yields between 0.1 and 10⁶ per impact depending on the stopping power of the projectiles and the properties of the samples. A review is given about the research of this phenomenon performed during the past 30 years. Firstly, the various theoretical concepts applied to heavy ion induced desorption are briefly listed, then the numerous experimental data are sorted and discussed. The article is restricted to irradiation with ions being heavier than ⁷Li and having an energy loss above 2 MeV/mg/cm². The studies in context with the erosion of frozen gases are not presented. Also the early work about fission fragment induced desorption phenomena is mentioned only occasionally.