Abstract
The study of the adsorption and electron driven reactions of etching molecules at surfaces is relevant both to the field of microfabrication and to the characterisation of the basic physics of molecule-surface dynamics. We have investigated the negative ion resonance states of sulphur hexafluoride (SF 6) physisorbed upon graphite (HOPG) at ∼85 K using high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) for both monolayer and multilayer coverages. The resonant energy profile of the ν 3 vibrational mode of SF 6 exhibits two peaks in the monolayer regime, at 1.75±0.5 eV and at 5.5±0.5 eV. The lower-lying resonant state is attributed to capture into the 6a 1g molecular orbital, and higher-energy resonance is assigned to the 6t 1u state. In the multilayer regime, there is a positive shift of ∼1 eV in the energy profile of these two peaks, which is attributed to the reduced influence of the image potential. No evidence for phase transitions has been found.
Published Version
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