Themes > Science > Physics > Molecular Physics > Molecular processes > Electron-Molecule/Molecular Ion Interactions


[CT1.001] Electron-molecular ion interaction studied in storage rings

Mats Larsson (Department of Physics, Stockholm University, Box 6730, S-113 85 Stockholm, Sweden)

Ion storage rings have emerged as an excellent tool for the study of electron-molecular ion interaction. Molecular ions are stored at Mev energies in the ring for tens of seconds, which effectively removes vibrational excitations. They are allowed to interact with a cold electron beam in one section of the ring. Neutral or charged particles arising from the interaction of the stored ions with the electrons are detected. The collision energy is controlled by the cathode voltage of the electron gun. In Stockholm, the heavy-ion storage ring CRYRING is used to study molecular ions. Dissociative electron-molecular ion recombination will be described, and studies of molecular oxygen and water ions will used as examples.

[CT1.002] Preliminary observations of the dissociative recombination reaction of He^+_2 from the v=4 vibrational level.

Kenneth Hardy, I. Boniche, L. Coman, M. Faxas, L. Simons (Physics Department, Florida International University, Miami, Fl 33199)

Measurements of the velocities of the final product state atoms from the dissociative recombination (DR) reaction of the He^+_2 molecular ion in the v=4 vibrational state have been made. The reaction populated the 1s3s and 1s3p atomic levels at 184864.9 cm^-1 and 185564.6 cm^-1. We observed DR of He_2^+ from different rotational states of the v=4 vibrational level. Using TOF techniques we determined the velocities of the final product atoms and from this directly measured the kinetic energy released in the DR reaction from which the rotational energies can be determined. Using the energies of the rotational states F_v(J) and the expression, F_v(J)=B_vJ(J+1)+D_vJ^2(J+1)^2, the rotational constants B_v and D_v of the v=4 level of the molecular ion were determined. Here, new experimental results from studies of the DR reaction in helium are presented and the preliminary results for the rotational constants are B_v = 6.11\pm0.2 cm^-1 and D_v = 9.5 x 10^-5\pm0.0004 cm^-1 for the v=4 vibrational level.


[CT1.003] Electron Scattering Processes from Plasma Processing Gases: CF3I, C3F8 and C4F8

Mineo Kimura (Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University)

Brief review of the current level of understanding of electron scattering processes from plasma processing gases such as CF3I, C3F8 and C4F8 will be presented. Experimental as well as theoretical studies for these gases have been carried out last a few years by several groups, and although the amount of cross-section data is still far from sufficient, we are able to establish the data set for some processes in these gases. I will briefly discuss possible next-generation processing gases.


[CT1.004] Dissociative Electron Attachment in Chlorofluoromethanes

Paul Burrow, K. Aflatooni (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

The total dissociative electron attachment (DEA) cross sections of the chlorofluoromethanes are determined in an electron beam experiment and correlated with the vertical attachment energies (VAE) for formation of the lowest temporary negative ion states of these compounds. The latter are determined independently by electron transmission spectroscopy (ETS) and correspond to the energies of the anions at the equilibrium geometries of the neutral molecules. As we observed previously in the chloroalkanes (K. Aflatooni and P.D. Burrow, J. Chem. Phys. in press, July 2000.), the peak DEA cross sections are well correlated with VAE. For values of VAE between 0.9 to 3.0 eV, the peak DEA cross sections vary by more than four orders of magnitude. The correlation is attributable to the remarkably monotonic variation of the temporary anion widths, arising from their finite lifetimes, over this range of VAE.


[CT1.005] Dissociative electron attachment process to CF_3 radicals

D. Hayashi, G.M.W. Kroesen (Eindhoven University of Technology)

To elucidate the electron attachment process to CF_3 radicals, electronic and geometrical structures of CF_3^- and its parent CF_3 radicals were calculated by GAUSSIAN 98 package. All computations were carried out by Hartree-Fock method with the standard 6-311++G^** basis. The geometrical structures were optimised by the second-order Moller-Presset perturbation theory. When an low-energy electron (<5 eV) is captured by the ground-state CF_3(C_3v), it is plausible that they first form a negative ion state (denoted as CF_3^-*) with the same geometry (bond length of C-F (r_CF) and angle FCF and symmetry as those of CF_3, and then CF_3^-* changes its geometry. The potential energy of CF_3, CF_3^-* and the ground-state negative ion CF_3(C_3v) were examined by scanning r_CF. The potential energy of CF_3^-* at the equilibrium r_CF of CF_3 is the same as that of CF_3, while that of CF_3^- is 0.5 eV lower than that of CF_3. The potential energy surface of dissociation channel CF_3^-\toF^-(^1S)+CF_2(^1A_1) was calculated as a function of C-F^- (r_CF-). The dissociation state F^-+CF_2 locates a few tens meV higher to the equilibrium state of CF_3. These results imply that the attachment of low-energy electrons (\sim1 eV) results in the formation of CF_3^-*. Since the total energy of the CF_3^-* is slightly exothermic against the dissociation, it automatically dissociates into F^-+CF_2.


[CT1.006] Electron Interactions with CF_3I

Loucas Christophorou, James Olthoff (NIST)

CF_3I is a potential plasma processing gas that has a short environmental lifetime and that produces copious quantities of CF_3^+ and CF_3 in low temperature plasmas. Low-energy electron collision data for CF_3I are sparse. Limited cross section data are available only for total and differential elastic electron scattering, electron-impact ionization, and electron attachment. These data have been synthesized and assessed and will be presented and discussed. There is a need for further scrutiny of these data and for measurements of the cross sections of all other main electron-collision processes. There is a need also for measurements of the electron transport, ionization, and attachment coefficients of this molecule.


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