Cluster secondary ion mass spectrometry: an insight into super-efficient" collision cascades Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Some collision cascades, induced by keV polyatomic projectiles, result in the emission of multiple secondary ions. Such coincidental ion emission implies that the ejecta originate from molecules co-located within a nano-volume perturbed by a single projectile impact, thus providing an approach for the chemical analysis of nano-domains. The relevance for the chemical analysis of nano-structures depends on the effectiveness of the projectile to cause co-emission of two or more analytically significant secondary ions. The experiments involved Au nm+ projectiles (1n4; m=1, 2) on phenylalanine targets. We have measured the yields for events in which multiple ions were detected as a function of projectile characteristics. The data show that some collision cascades are "super-efficient". For example, in a four-ion detection event, the yield for the phenylalanine molecular ion is two orders of magnitude larger from Au 4 impacts than from equal velocity Au + projectiles. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE

author list (cited authors)

  • Rickman, R. D., Verkhoturov, S. V., & Schweikert, E. A.

citation count

  • 14

complete list of authors

  • Rickman, RD||Verkhoturov, SV||Schweikert, EA

publication date

  • June 2004