LEIS depth profiles, obtained by low energy (0.5 keV) Ar⁺ sputtering, have been analysed for the mixed conducting oxide material La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3-δ. Samples have been examined after differing thermal treatments to examine the sub-surface reorganisation of the cation species. The profiles have shown considerable changes, but these are not strongly correlated with the thermal treatments. The similarity between the profiles suggests that preferential sputtering effects can dominate the sub-surface region (~1–3 nm) where sputtering has not reached equilibrium. Preferential sputtering of oxygen in oxide materials is well known, but here we provide evidence of the preferential sputtering of the cationic species in a complex multicomponent oxide. Of note is strong enrichment (~30%) of the sputtered surface with the heaviest of the elements, La. Simulations using the code TRIDYN have confirmed the observations, in particular, La surface enrichment and the fluence needed to achieve steady state sputtering of > 3 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻².

通过低能量（0.5 keV）Ar ⁺溅射获得的LEIS深度分布图已针对混合导电氧化物材料La _0.6 Sr _0.4 Co _0.2 Fe _0.8 O3 _{-δ进行了分析}。经过不同的热处理后，对样品进行了检查，以检查阳离子物质的亚表面重组。轮廓显示出相当大的变化，但这些变化与热处理没有强烈关系。轮廓之间的相似性表明，优先溅射效应可以控制溅射尚未达到平衡的次表面区域（约1-3 nm）。氧在氧化物材料中的优先溅射是众所周知的，但是这里我们提供了在复合多组分氧化物中阳离子物质优先溅射的证据。值得注意的是，溅射表面的重元素La含量最高（约30％）。使用代码TRIDYN进行的仿真已证实了这一发现，特别是，¹⁶ 厘米^-2。