Mechanism of Hn+ and H- desorption during fast ion bombardment

After emission of electrons and photons, hydrogen species are the next secondary particles to leave the surface of a solid exposed to bombardment of fast ions. Their desorption yield, energy distribution, and angular distribution should reflect the conditions existing near the heavy ion track at 10-13 to 10-11 seconds after the impact of the projectile. The measurement and analysis of those quantities should thus provide important and perhaps unique information about the mechanism of energy transfer from the projectile to the desorbed species. In this paper, the authors present the relative desorption yields of H-, H+, H2+, and H3+, measured for several surface conditions using 252Cf-Particle Desorption Mass Spectrometry (PDMS). 8 refs., 3 figs