Effect of Cluster Surface Energies on Secondary-Ion-Intensity Distributions from Ionic Crystals

Abstract

Ultrahigh-mass cluster ions ($\frac{m}{z}>18000$) of the type ${[M{(\mathrm{MX})}_{n}]}^{+}$ have been produced by xenon-ion bombardment of CsI and detected by a high-performance secondary-ion mass spectrometer. The mass spectra (ion intensity versus $n$) show anomalous behavior which is correlated with hypothesized dominance of cubiclike clusters having low surface energies.