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Low-energy electron interactions with tungsten hexacarbonyl--W(CO)6
K Wnorowski1, M Stano, C Matias
1Department of Chemistry, Siedlce University, 3 Maja 54, 08-110 Siedlce, Poland.
Rationale:
Low-energy secondary electrons are formed when energetic particles interact with matter. High-energy electrons or ions are used to form metallic structures from adsorbed organometallic molecules like W(CO)(6) on surfaces. We investigated low-energy electron attachment to W(CO)(6) in the gas phase to elucidate possible reactions during surface modification.
Methods:
Two crossed electron/molecular beam setups were utilised: (i) a high-resolution electron monochromator combined with a quadrupole mass spectrometer which was used for the measurement of relative cross sections as a function of the electron energy, and (ii) a double focusing mass spectrometer used for measurements of metastable decays of anions.
Results:
The study was performed in the electron energy range between ~0 and 14 eV. W(CO)(6) efficiently decomposed upon attachment of a low-energy electron and no stable W(CO)(6)(-) anion was observed on mass spectrometric time scales. The transient negative ion formed lost instead sequentially CO ligands. The fragment anions W(CO)(5)(-), W(CO)(4)(-), W(CO)(3)(-), and W(CO)(2)(-) were observed. However, no W(-) was detectable.
Conclusions:
Dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to W(CO)(6) led to strong dissociation but a complete loss of all CO ligands was not observed in DEA. Deposit contaminations might be a direct result of DEA reactions close to the irradiation spot in beam deposition techniques.
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