Editing Sputtering (section)

{{Short description|Emission of surface atoms through energetic particle bombardment}}
[[File:Sputtering system.jpg|thumb|250px|A commercial AJA Orion sputtering system at [[Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility]]]]
[[File:Busek's BET-3 Ion Thruster.jpg|thumb|Ion thruster operating on iodine (yellow) using a xenon (blue) hollow cathode. High-energy ions emitted from [[Spacecraft electric propulsion|plasma thrusters]] sputter material off the surrounding test chamber, causing problems for ground testing of high-power thrusters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lobbia |first1=R.B. |last2=Polk |first2=J.E. |last3=Hofer |first3=R.R. |last4=Chaplin |first4=V.H |last5=Jorns |first5=B. |date=2019-08-19 |title=Accelerating 23,000 hours of ground test backsputtered carbon on a magnetically shielded Hall thruster |journal=AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2019 Forum |doi=10.2514/6.2019-3898|isbn=978-1-62410-590-6 }}</ref>]]
In physics, '''sputtering''' is a phenomenon in which microscopic [[particle]]s of a solid material are ejected from its surface, after the material is itself bombarded by energetic [[particle]]s of a [[plasma (physics)|plasma]] or [[gas]].<ref name=Behrisch1981>{{cite book| editor= R. Behrisch |title= Sputtering by Particle bombardment |publisher=Springer, Berlin| year=1981|isbn=978-3-540-10521-3}}</ref> It occurs naturally in [[outer space]], and can be an unwelcome source of [[wear]] in precision components. However, the fact that it can be made to act on extremely fine layers of material is utilised in science and industry—there, it is used to perform precise [[etching]], carry out analytical techniques, and deposit [[thin film]] layers in the manufacture of [[optical coating]]s, [[semiconductor device]]s and [[nanotechnology]] products. It is a [[physical vapor deposition]] technique.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.semicore.com/news/94-what-is-dc-sputtering|title = What is DC Sputtering?| date=26 November 2016 }}</ref>