Electron stimulated desorption of carbon monoxide from a (111) niobium surface

Electron stimulated desorption of CO from the (111) face of a Nb single crystal produced both CO⁺ and O⁺ ions after adsorption at 150°K on a clean surface. When the surface was heated to above 250 °K only O⁺ ions were observed, and this current disappeared as the temperature was increased to 700 °K. Readsorption (at 150 °K) was inhibited following the 700 °K heating. These data indicate the formation on heating of a tightly bound surface phase with very low ionic desorption cross section. Threshold energies for CO⁺ and O⁺ ion production were 10.0 ± 0.5 eV and 19.0 ± 0.5 eV, respectively. The cross section for electron stimulated depopulation of the O⁺ producing phase was (4 ± 1) × 10^?18 cm² for 100 eV electrons.