CAREER NETWORK World's one of the largest Research Career Network Benefits Academic & Industry jobs Project funding Visiting faculty positions Visiting scientist positions Invited talks and more... Register FREE Physics Express 1, 1: 8 Research Article External ionic photoeffect: Paradoxes and models A.G. Rokakh*, M.D. Matasov Chernyshevsky Saratov State University, Saratov 410012, Russia Abstract A brief description of illumination influence on the ion sputtering of the photoconductive targets by oxygen ions and the recent results with argon ions are given. Investigation of behavior of photoconductive targets is connected with the so-called secondary-ion photoeffect. The kind of this effect (increase or decrease in the ion yield) depends on the sort of ions bombarded, e.g. oxygen, argon. Recent investigations including the Auger- and mass-spectrometry show only one kind of the light influence (the increase in the yield under illumination) during argon sputtering. In fact, this kind of sputtering is usually observed in the absence of illumination on different targets as accelerated primary ions also generate the electron-hole pairs responsible for the influence of light. The increase in the yield under illumination for negative secondary ions (sulfur and oxygen) has been first observed. The mechanism of increase in the yield in sulfides under illumination is used to explain the first observed increase in the yield of the Si+ ions from the SiO target and for processes of the ion sputtering in this and other targets in the darkness. Keywords Photoconductive target; Ion sputtering; Light influence; Cadmium-lead sulfide; Silicon monoxide