Secondary ion mass spectra of gold super clusters up to 140000 dalton

The bombardment of a two-shell gold complex (Au₅₅(PPh₃)₁₂Cl₆) with 10 keV Xe⁺-ions results in the formation of secondary ion masses up to 140000 u. These are by far the largest secondary ions observed under primary particle bombardment. The detection and identification of these ions with a Time-Of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (TOF-SIMS) gives important information about the behavior of naked full-shell clusters. Au₁₃ particles, generated from the Au₅₅ cluster, serve as building blocks for a series of super-clusters up to (Au₁₃)₅₅. The results for keV-ion bombardment are compared to those for MeV-ion bombardment.