Sputtering yields for uranium metal under bombardment by 13 - 120keV protons and by 20 - 120 keV He+ are presented. Angular distributionsof the material sputtered by these ions are also given. Sputtering yieldsfor 40 and 80 keV Ar+ were measured as well.
The technique employed to make these measurements was the detectionof fission tracks in mica produced by ^(235)U sputtered onto collector foilswhich were subsequently exposed to a high fluence of thermal neutrons.The technique is extremely sensitive and allowed the measurement ofsputtering yields less than 10^(-4) atoms per ion. It also made possiblea detailed study of the emission of chunks from the uranium targetsduring sputtering. Mass distributions of chunks emitted during bombardmentby 40 - 120 keV protons and by 80 keV argon are presented.
Comparisons are made between the experimental results and thosepredicted by the Sigmund theory of sputtering.
