Ion bombardment, an experimental technique widely used for fabricating semiconductor devices, involves sputtering of atoms from target materials. The origin of sputtering includes a complex interplay of the atomic properties of the interacting atoms. This becomes more complex if the target is a compound material. Hence, detail atomic properties are necessary to be studied to find out the root of a possible preferential sputtering. Here, SiGe is taken as a model compound material to study such phenomenon. It is observed that the sputtering yield is nonlinear and sputtering of the individual components also show nonlinear behavior.

Further reading   Differential sputter yields in Si1−xGex
                            M. Zubaer Hossain, Jonathan B. Freund, and H. T. Johnson, J. Appl. Phys. 103, 073508(2008)