Molecular Dynamics simulations of 30 keV He impacts on gold nano-clusters

At the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, molecular dynamics computer simulations are employed to study the sputtering yield and channeling effects in Gold nano-clusters of different sizes. Primary ion energy and crystal orientation are varied to obtain a holistic image of the possible effects relevant for scanning transmission ion microscopy. Our results show that ion-channeling occurs not only in the principal low-index, but also in other directions in between. The strengths of different channels are specifed, and their correlations with sputtering yield and damage production is addressed. The figure below shows sputtering under 30 keV He ion irradiation of 5 nm Gold nano-clusters.