The effect of varying the energy (250-2000 eV) and angle of incidence (50-degrees or 80-degrees) of Ar ions used to sputter etch a surface was observed on depth profiles of strained GaAs/Ga0.81In0.19As superlattices studied by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The superlattices were grown by atmospheric-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with a nominal layer thickness of 50 angstrom. We show that using ion energies of around 500 eV and grazing incidence minimizes the artifacts due to the interaction between the ion beam and the surface.722171174