Sputtering yields and energy distributions from nonoverlapping subspikes in ion bombarded volatile solids

The yields and energy distributions of particles sputtered from rare gas solids bombarded by keV ions have been studied. The experimental yields are typically much larger than those predicted from linear collision cascade theory, but the dependence on the nuclear stopping power is similar. This discrepancy is explained by a sputtering model based on nonoverlapping elastic subspikes. The predictions from this model agree well with the experimental results for helium ions incident on solid neon and argon as well as nitrogen ions on solid xenon. The analysis of the collision regime demonstrates that the subspikes do not overlap at the primary energies considered.