COMPARATIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SECONDARY-ION EMISSION OF METAL-COMPLEXES UNDER MEV AND KEV ION-BOMBARDMENT

A series of ionic and neutral Group VIII transition metal complexes wi th molecular masses up to 2500 u were analysed by time-of-flight secon dary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and plasma desorption mass spectrome try (PDMS). The secondary ion emission, the secondary ion yields and t he yield ratios Y(PDMS)/Y(SIMS) of 20 ionic and neutral metal complexe s were determined. Both techniques generally provide both molecular an d fragment ion information. Characteristic fragmentation patterns give useful data for structural characterization. Additionally, the stabil ities of different secondary ion species were compared by their half-l ives. Both PDMS and SIMS are very sensitive, yielding optimum spectra from total sample sizes as low as 5 nmol, and the sample consumption i s negligible.