Monte Carlo simulations of MgO and Mg(OH)2 thin films sputtering yields by noble-gas ion bombardment in plasma display panel PDP

MgO is known to be a material suitable for barrier coating of commercial plasma display panel (PDP) cells owing to its excellent electrical insulating property, good resistance to sputtering, large secondary-electron emission coefficient and high transmittance. It is also a valuable information for improving the efficiency and the lifespan of the PDP. However, the effect of moisture emitted from the wall and phosphor materials of the PDP cells, an Mg(OH)2 is formed on the top surface of an MgO protective layer. In this work, the Monte Carlo simulation program SRIM-2013 was applied to calculate the sputtering yields of magnesium hydroxide Mg(OH)2 by low-energy noble-gas ion bombardment. The comparison between results obtained by Monte Carlo simulation and those obtained by experiments is elucidated in this paper. Furthermore, the surface binding energies for MgO and Mg(OH)2 layers on sputtering yield are discussed. It is found that the sputtering yield of Mg(OH)2 is generally lower than that of MgO at each incident energy. On the other hand, the sputtering yield depends on the properties of both the incident particle and the target.