Over the last 3 decades it has been shown that slow highly charged ions (HCis) can be used to effec- tively produce nanometric structures on various surfaces [1]. Commonly these structures, like holes or even protruding hillocks, are found only on insulator or semi-conducting surfaces and only if the ion surpasses a certain initial charge state threshold [2]. Even in the truly two-dimensional case of a solid it holds true that (serni-)metallic graphene is not susceptible to potential sputtering, while other material classes show !arge perforation yields [3]. Here we show that metallic structures can, however, be susceptible to the potential energy of an incoming HCI if the overall material volume is reduced to small values [4]. We use Au nanoislands irradiated with Xeq+ (q = 1, 18, 25, 32, 40) to study the potential energy dependence of surface erosion. Comparing the height and lateral size of the islands before and after irradiation with atomk force rnicroscopy (AFM) and scanning electron rnicroscopy (SEM), a decrease in height is found with increasing potential energy of the HCI (see figure below).