Sputtering rate of lead, tin and germanium tellurides with low energy argon ions
Sputtering of PbTe, SnTe, and GeTe crystal samples by low-energy Ar+ ions are investigated, and the sputtering rate vsp of the studied compounds, as well as its dependence on both the composition of crystal matrix and the sputtering energy are determined. It is found that under the same conditions the sputtering rate in the sequence of GeTe-SnTe-PbTe telluride compounds increases when their average atomic weight increases.