Sputtering of a silicon surface: Preferential sputtering of surface impurities

We present molecular-dynamics simulations of the sputtering of an impurity atom off a Si 2×1 (100) surface by 2 keV Ar ions. The impurity is characterized by its mass and its binding energy to the Si substrate. We find that sputtering strongly decreases with the mass and even more strongly with the binding energy of the impurity atom to the matrix. The velocity of the impurity perpendicular to the surface is reduced with increasing impurity mass and binding energy. In terms of available ionization theories we can conclude that heavier impurities will have a smaller ionization probability.