INELASTIC ENERGY-LOSS OF RECOILED HYDROGEN-IONS IN LOW-ENERGY HE+, NE+ AND AR+ COLLISIONS WITH HYDROGENATED SILICON SURFACE

Inelastic excitation processes are reported for recoiled hydrogen ions produced by He+, Ne+ and Ar+ ion beams with an energy range from 400 to 1500 eV at hydrogenated silicon surface. Such inelastic excitation processes are observed as displacements in the recoiled hydrogen ion e nergy from the position of the elastic recoiling, The observed displac ements for the recoiled H+ ions are 25 eV in the Ne+ ion incidence, an d 20 eV in the Ar+ ion incidence, which are independent of the inciden t beam energy. In case of the He+ ion incidence, the displacement is n ot distinguished. As a possible inelastic excitation processes relatin g to the observed displacement, an electron promotion model that both the neutralized incident ions and the recoiled hydrogen are simultaneo usly excited to form ground state ions is suggested, where electrons i n both atoms are promoted above the Fermi level of the surface during hard collisions.