On the role of the primary beam and of scattered or sputtered particles in the faceting of cones on bombarded surfaces

It has been suggested that the development of facets on bombardment-induced cones is the result of the erosion, due to the primary ion beam, of planes with a high sputtering yield. Experimental evidence is presented which suggests that secondary and tertiary particles may also contribute to the faceting of cones. Secondary particles refer to scattered ions and tertiary particles to energetic sputtered atoms. They could originate variously from the edges of the beam-defining aperture, from the target surface, and from features on the target surface. © 1981.