Low-energy surface collision induced dissociation of Ge and Sn cluster ions

Fragmentation of germanium and tin cluster ions in the low-energy collisions with a Si surface has been investigated by means of a tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer. At low incident energies, smaller clusters fragmented by an atom loss process, whereas larger clusters decayed by fission. The favored fragmentation paths for both cluster ions were similar to those for Si cluster ions. The results support the structural similarities among Si, Ge, and Sn clusters in the present size range. For tin cluster ions, low-energy fragmentation patterns were compared with those obtained from theoretical calculations using generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and the B3PW91 exchange-correlation functional. It has been found that the B3PW91 hybrid functional results are consistent with the experimental observations.