Sputtering of hollow atoms from carbon surfaces

We investigated the emission of K Auger electrons from collisions of hydrogenlike ions C(5+), N(6+), and O(7+) with graphite as well as fullerene covered gold surfaces. Besides the quite well understood Anger electrons emitted from the projectile, an extremely high yield of Anger electrons originating from surface atoms is observed. Remarkably the target Auger spectra show discrete (atomic) KLL lines superimposed on the broad KW spectra originating from bulk carbon. This indicates high-sputtering yields of highly excited carbon ions/atoms with K-shell vacancies.