Polverizzazione catodica

thumb|250px|A commercial AJA Orion sputtering system at Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility 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. In physics, sputtering is a phenomenon in which microscopic particles of a solid material are ejected from its surface, after the material is itself bombarded by energetic particles of a plasma or gas. It occurs natural