Molecular dynamics simulations of ion irradiation of a surface under an electric field

The presence of high electric fields may affect significantly the process of sputtering of metal surfaces by energetic ions, especially in the vicinity of rough surface features. The effect can be significant if the energy of ions is fairly low. Moreover, the nanosized rough surface features – invisible to a naked eye, both intrinsic ones due to technological processing of surfaces and those forming because of sputtering – may affect the topology of surface erosion under ion bombardment. In this work we study by means of concurrent electrodynamics–molecular dynamics the sputtering yield of Cu+Cu+ ions hitting a flat Cu surface or a nanosized Cu protrusion as a function of both ion energy and electric field strength. The results show that the sputtering yield is significantly enhanced in the presence of an electric field in both cases.