Neutralization of slow helium ions scattered from single crystalline aluminum and tantalum surfaces and their oxides

TL;DR

This study examines how surface oxygen affects helium ion scattering from single crystalline aluminum and tantalum, revealing that oxygen alters neutralization efficiency and ion yield depending on surface oxidation and energy.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how oxygen modifies charge exchange processes during ion scattering on metal surfaces and their oxides.

Findings

Oxygen exposure decreases ion yield beyond surface coverage effects.

Neutralization efficiency depends on the chemical structure of the surface.

Oxygen surfaces show weaker energy dependency in ion yield.

Abstract

We investigated the impact of surface oxygen on the ion yield for He$^+$ ions scattered from different single crystalline surfaces in low-energy ion scattering. Initially clean Al(111) and Ta(111) were exposed to molecular oxygen and ion spectra for different oxidation stages and different primary energies were recorded. A comparison of ion yields normalized to the differential scattering cross section as well as experimental factors allows obtaining information about the influence of oxygen on charge exchange processes. The decrease in the ion yield of both metals with exposure cannot be explained by different surface coverages exclusively, but requires the neutralization efficiency to be dependent on the chemical structure of the surface. For Ta, additionally, a different energy dependency of the ion yield obtained in the metal and oxide occurs. The ion yield for O shows in both surfaces a significantly weaker energy dependency than the investigated metals.