Alkali ion scattering from Ag(0 0 1) and Ag thin films at low and hyperthermal energies

Abstract

We have investigated the scattering of K+ and Cs+ ions from a single crystal Ag(001) surface and from a Ag–Si(100) Schottky diode structure. For the K+ ions, incident energies of 25eV to 1keV were used to obtain energy-resolved spectra of scattered ions at θi=θf=45°. These results are compared to the classical trajectory simulation safari and show features indicative of light atom-surface scattering where sequential binary collisions can describe the observed energy loss spectra. Energy-resolved spectra obtained for Cs+ ions at incident energies of 75eV and 200eV also show features consistent with binary collisions. However, for this heavy atom-surface scattering system, the dominant trajectory type involves at least two surface atoms, as large angular deflections are not classically allowed for any single scattering event. In addition, a significant deviation from the classical double-collision prediction is observed for incident energies around 100eV, and molecular dynamics studies are proposed to investigate the role of collective lattice effects. Data are also presented for the scattering of K+ ions from a Schottky diode structure, which is a prototype device for the development of active targets to probe energy loss at a surface.