Abstract
The temperature dependence of sputtering yields of Ge (100) and (110) under low‐energy Ne+ and Ar+ ion bombardment has been investigated. For target temperatures above the annealing temperature Ta where atom ejection patterns are observed, yield differences up to 50% are noted. For target temperatures below Ta the sputtering yield is independent of the crystallographic surface. Furthermore, this yield is less than the high‐temperature yield for the (100) surface and higher than the high‐temperature yield for the (110) surface.