Analytical model for the sputtering of rough surfaces

The sputtering yields of solids under ion bombardment are highly sensitive to the roughness of their surfaces. Understanding how sputtering is exactly affected by different surface morphologies is relevant especially for plasma-wall interaction in fusion reactors and space weathering of planetary surfaces. We present an analytical model that allows to calculate sputtering yields of random gaussian rough surfaces under arbitrary angles of incidence, taking into account local incidence angles, shadowing and redeposition of sputtered materials. Sputtering yields of a rough surface can then be calculated with the sputtering yield's dependence on the ion incidence angle for a flat surface and a single statistical parameter, which characterizes the surface roughness. The model supports previous findings that the mean surface inclination angle delta m is a well-suited parameter to describe the sputtering behavior of rough surfaces. Comparisons of the results to previous experiments and numerical simulations for various cases are presented, showing that the model allows to quantitatively reproduce sputtering yields of different samples over a wide range of roughness regimes.