PNNL

Abstract

Collisions of ions with surfaces play an important role in a variety of scientific disciplines including surface science, materials science, mass spectrometry, imaging and spectroscopy. Ion-surface collision phenomena are broadly used in many analytical methods and surface modification techniques including secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), - chemical imaging, ion scattering spectrometry, surface induced dissociation (SID), - growth and modification of thin films, and formation of three-dimensional nanostructures. Physical phenomena that occur during ion-surface collisions have been extensively reviewed.9, , These include physisorption or ion deposition, elastic and inelastic scattering, chemical reactions, charge exchange, sputtering, and ion implantation. The competition between these processes is determined by the kinetic energy of the projectile ion and the properties of the surface. Different regimes of kinetic energies schematically shown in Figure 1 are approximately defined as follows: thermal (below 1 eV), hyperthermal