Ion surface collisions of CH3+, CH4+, CH5+ and CD4+

Surface-induced dissociation of the hydrocarbon ions CH3+, CH4+, CH5+ and CD4+ upon impact on a hydrocarbon covered stainless steel surface has been investigated in the collision energy range from about 0 up to 50 eV. In this energy regime, typical of many laboratory and technical plasmas, the product ion mass spectra showed in general increasing fragmentation of the projectile with increasing collision energy. Besides ions resulting from the dissociation of the projectile ions, the product ion mass spectra contained also ions being either produced by pick-up reactions or by chemical sputtering from the hydrocarbon layer on the target surface