Auger investigations of GaAs sputtered with low-energy Ar/sup +/ ions at glancing incidence

Abstract

Sputter induced effects due to the bombardment of GaAs with low energy Ar/sup +/ ions were investigated by means of AES. The ion energy varied between 0.3 and 5 keV, and the incidence angle was 80/spl deg/ with respect to the surface normal. Increasing As depletion in the surface region was observed with increasing argon ion energy. A shift of Auger peaks by 1 eV was defected for both As and Ga LMM Auger transitions with the increase of the argon energy. This shift is related to the lattice damage extension in the surface region due to argon bombardment.