Sputtering of Metal Atoms with the Wake Potential Excited by an Electron Beam

The process of metal atoms sputtering during a corona discharge is considered. When an electron moves in a medium at some velocity, charge screening occurs with a delay in space and time, which leads to the emergence of a wake potential. The excited oscillations of the wake charge lead to the appearance of additional forces. The energy loss of a moving particle per unit path is determined by the work produced of the deceleration force that acts on the particle from the side of the wake potential it creates in the medium. The paper considers the effect of the wake potential on the ions (atoms) sputtering of the lattice matrix. A well-known expression is used for the wake potential excited by a charged particle moving with energy, greater than the Fermi energy. An expression for the sputtering cross-section of metal atoms under the action of the wake potential excited by the electron beam is obtained. It is shown that the result of sputtering does not depend on the charge sign of the incident particle (electron or ion).