Experimental results on the charge-state-dependent sputtering of metallic gold nanoislands are presented. Irradiations with slow highly charged ions of metallic targets were previously considered to show no charge state dependent effects on ion-induced material modification, since these materials possess enough free electrons to dissipate the deposited potential energy before electron-phonon coupling can set in. By reducing the size of the target material down to the nanometer regime and thus enabling a geometric energy confinement, a possibility is demonstrated to erode metallic surfaces by charge state related effects in contrast to regular kinetic sputtering.
Keywords: ablation of metallic nanoislands; gold; kinetic sputtering; nanoislands; potential sputtering; slow highly charged ions.
© 2023 The Authors. Small published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.