Low-energy ionic collisions at molecular solids

A study was conducted to demonstrate low-energy ionic collisions at molecular solids. The investigations were limited to molecular surfaces and associated chemical processes occurring during impact of a hyperthermal energy ion. The term 'molecular solid' comprised the wide range of molecular materials that were used in ion/surface collision experiments. The energy regime considered in the investigations lied in an intermediate range. Primary ion energies of several kiloelectronvolts used in a secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) experiment was considered in the case of condensed molecular solids to allow correlation with the results of chemical sputtering (CS) or other low-energy sputtering (LES) experiments.