Dissociative scattering of fluorocarbon ions from a liquid surface at hyperthermal incident energies

Dissociative scattering of hyperthermal energy CF3+ ions from modified surfaces

Dissociative scattering of CF3+ ions in collision with a self-assembled monolayer surface of fluorinated alkyl thiol on a gold 111 crystal has been studied at low ion kinetic energies (from 29 to 159 eV) using a custom built tandem mass spectrometer with a rotatable second stage energy analyzer and mass spectrometer detectors. Energy and intensity distributions of the scattered fragment ions were measured as a function of the fragment ion mass and scattering angle. Inelastically scattered CF3+ ions were not observed even at the lowest energy studied here. All fragment ions, CF2+, CF+, F+, and C+, were observed at all energies studied with the relative intensity of the highest energy pathway, C+, increasing and that of the lowest energy pathway, CF2+, decreasing with collision energy. Also, the dissociation efficiency of CF3+ decreased significantly as the collision energy was increased to 159 eV. Energy distributions of all fragment ions from the alkyl thiol surface showed two distinct components, one corresponding to the loss of nearly all of the kinetic energy and scattered over a broad angular range while the other corresponding to smaller kinetic energy losses and scattered closer to the surface parallel. The latter process is due to delayed dissociation of collisionally excited ions after they have passed the collision region as excited parent ions. A similar study performed at 74 eV using a LiF coated surface on a titanium substrate resulted only in one process for all fragment ions; corresponding to the delayed dissociation process. The intensity maxima for these fragmentation processes were shifted farther away from the surface parallel compared to the thiol surface. A new mechanism is proposed for the delayed dissociation process as proceeding via projectile ions' neutralization to long-lived highly excited Rydberg state(s), reionization by the potential field between the collision region and entrance to the energy analyzer, and subsequent dissociation several microseconds after collisional excitation. A kinematic analysis of experimental data plotted as velocity Newton diagrams demonstrates that the delayed dissociation process results from the collisions of the ion with the bulk surface; i.e., the self-assembled monolayer surface acts as a bulk surface. A similar analysis for the highly inelastic collision processes shows that these are due to stronger collisions with a fraction of the thiol molecular chain, varying in length (mass) with the ion energy.

Theoretical modeling of energy redistribution and stereodynamics in CF scattering from Si(100) under grazing incidence

We have simulated CF scattering from Si(100) using the molecular dynamics method. Translational energy loss spectra are presented. The shape of the energy loss distribution as a result of internal energy release is analyzed. At the classical turning point, the internal energy of the molecule is mainly in the form of rotational energy. The strong rotational excitation results in additional molecule-surfaces interactions during the latter half of the collision. These additional collisions permit some molecules that initially gain internal energy exceeding the bond strength to ultimately survive the collision process via rotational de-excitation. The rotational motion exhibited by surviving molecules is determined by the combination of the molecular axis orientation and the local surface structure during the collision process. The rotation planes of the surviving molecules are preferentially aligned with the surface normal (cartwheel-like and propeller-like motions). In this study, propeller-like motion of the surviving molecules is predicted. The majority of surviving molecules exhibit a cartwheel-like motion. However, molecules that gain a propeller-like rotation exhibit a much better alignment of their planes-of-rotation compared with molecules exhibiting cartwheel-like motion.

Collisions of Slow Polyatomic Ions with Surfaces: Dissociation and Chemical Reactions of C2H2+•, C2H3+, C2H4+•, C2H5+, and Their Deuterated Variants C2D2+• and C2D4+• on Room-Temperature and Heated Carbon Surfaces

Interaction of C2Hn+ (n = 2-5) hydrocarbon ions and some of their isotopic variants with room-temperature and heated (600 degrees C) highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces was investigated over the range of incident energies 11-46 eV and an incident angle of 60 degrees with respect to the surface normal. The work is an extension of our earlier research on surface interactions of CHn+ (n = 3-5) ions. Mass spectra, translational energy distributions, and angular distributions of product ions were measured. Collisions with the HOPG surface heated to 600 degrees C showed only partial or substantial dissociation of the projectile ions; translational energy distributions of the product ions peaked at about 50% of the incident energy. Interactions with the HOPG surface at room temperature showed both surface-induced dissociation of the projectiles and, in the case of radical cation projectiles C2H2+* and C2H4+*, chemical reactions with the hydrocarbons on the surface. These reactions were (i) H-atom transfer to the projectile, formation of protonated projectiles, and their subsequent fragmentation and (ii) formation of a carbon chain build-up product in reactions of the projectile ion with a terminal CH3-group of the surface hydrocarbons and subsequent fragmentation of the product ion to C3H3+. The product ions were formed in inelastic collisions in which the translational energy of the surface-excited projectile peaked at about 32% of the incident energy. Angular distributions of reaction products showed peaking at subspecular angles close to 68 degrees (heated surfaces) and 72 degrees (room-temperature surfaces). The absolute survival probability at the incident angle of 60 degrees was about 0.1% for C2H2+*, close to 1% for C2H4+* and C2H5+, and about 3-6% for C2H3+.

Evidence of dissociative collision induced diatomic and triatomic hydrogen ion formation from hydrocarbon ion interaction with silicon surface

A singly charged hydrocarbon ion CH(x) (+) (x=0,1,2,3,4) was extracted from an electron bombardment type ion source using methane as the reagent gas and irradiated onto the Si(100) surface at glancing angle. Scattered ion spectrometry using an electrostatic energy analyzer revealed that H(+), H(2) (+), and H(3) (+) ions were clearly formed at the scattering angle of 15 degrees , associated with dissociative collisions of hydrocarbon ion species of incidence energy of 1000 eV. The formation of H(3) (+) was tentatively interpreted as resulting from combination of excited atomic hydrogen produced by dissociative collisions of CH(4) (+) ions with Si(100) surface.

Effects of unique ion chemistry on thin-film growth by plasma-surface interactions

Plasma processing is a standard industrial method for the modification of material surfaces and the deposition of thin films. Polyatomic ions and neutrals larger than a triatomic play a critical role in plasma-induced surface chemistry, especially in the deposition of polymeric films from fluorocarbon plasmas. In this paper, low energy CF3+ and C3F5+ ions are used to modify a polystyrene surface. Experimental and computational studies are combined to quantify the effect of the unique chemistry and structure of the incident ions on the result of ion-polymer collisions. C3F5+ ions are more effective at growing films than CF3+, both at similar energy/atom of approximately 6 eV/atom and similar total kinetic energies of 25 and 50 eV. The composition of the films grown experimentally also varies with both the structure and kinetic energy of the incident ion. Both C3F5+ and CF3+ should be thought of as covalently bound polyatomic precursors or fragments that can react and become incorporated within the polystyrene surface, rather than merely donating F atoms. The size and structure of the ions affect polymer film formation via differing chemical structure, reactivity, sticking probabilities, and energy transfer to the surface. The different reactivity of these two ions with the polymer surface supports the argument that larger species contribute to the deposition of polymeric films from fluorocarbon plasmas. These results indicate that complete understanding and accurate computer modeling of plasma-surface modification requires accurate measurement of the identities, number densities, and kinetic energies of higher mass ions and energetic neutrals.