Applications of fullerene beams in analysis of thin layers

Molecular dynamics computer simulations have been employed to model ejection of particles from Ag{1 1 1} metal substrate and thin benzene overlayer bombarded by fullerene cluster projectiles. The sputtering yields are analyzed depending on the size (from C₂₀ up to C₅₄₀) and the kinetic energy (5-20 keV) of a projectile. It has been found that for clean metal substrate bombarded by 15 keV projectiles the maximum ejection is stimulated by the impact of the C₆₀ cluster. However, the size of the cluster projectile maximizing the yield depends on the kinetic energy of the cluster, shifting towards larger clusters as the impact energy increases. For a thin benzene overlayer, the yield increases monotonically with the size of the cluster within investigated range of fullerene projectiles and kinetic energies.