Surface‐induced ion neutralization with high energy deposition

Abstract

Abstract Ion‐to‐neutral conversion at surfaces is found to be complementary to that with gas‐phase targets for neutralization–reionization mass spectrometry and to yield high‐energy neutral species. With an Ag surface deposited on an in‐line Si substrate, neutralization–reionization efficiencies of 0.01% are achieved using 9.8 keV CH , with the neutral CH 4 receiving a median internal energy of 14 eV; with a conventional target of K vapor, the efficiency is 0.4% with a neutral energy of 8.2 eV expected from their ionization energy difference. The energy deposition can be increased by increasing the potential that deflects ions into the surface; in this way ∼15% of CH 4 neutral species can be given >20 eV of internal energy. Product abundances from CH 4 dissociation provide a useful estimate of the distribution of energy values deposited in neutralization.