Abstract: | ![]() The dissociation of field ionized doubly charged organic molecular ions into doubly charged fragment ions and neutral fragments is discussed. The kinetic energy released during the dissociation of the singly and doubly charged molecular ions rules out the possibility of a direct correlation between their mechanisms of formation. Further, the pressure as well as the temperature dependence revealed that the singly charged molecular ions are formed by direct ionization of the neutral molecules, while the doubly charged molecular ions are formed through a second ionization process of the adsorbed molecular ions on the field anode surface. |