Secondary ion emission of selected transition metals under nitrogen oxides

The emission of various positive secondary ions has been investigated for polycrystalline targets of Ti, V, Cr, Nb, Ta, Co, Ni, Cu, Pd and Pt, which were bombarded by Ar⁺ ions under dynamic SIMS (DSIMS) conditions in the presence of the gaseous nitrogen oxides N₂O, NO and NO₂ at fixed pressure and under residual gas. Besides ions of the Me⁺ type several fragmentary ions (e.g. N⁺, O⁺, NO⁺, MeN⁺ and MeO⁺) and also cluster ions Me_xO_y⁺ (x 2, 0 y 2) were detected. Signals of a more molecular type with respect to the reactant gas, e.g. MeNO⁺, were only found for Co, Ni, Cu, Pd and Pt. From this, one may infer that for the other targets the nitrogen oxides will exist preferentially in a dissociatively adsorbed state at the metal surface. Several aspects of secondary ion emission can be explained assuming a different degree of oxidation for the metals under the influence of reactant gas.Part of the dissertation