SYNTHESIS OF SILICON-OXYGEN DERIVATIVES IN QUASI-INTERSTELLAR CONDITIONS

Bombardment of a silicon target in high vacuum with a molecular beam o f krypton in the presence of thermal oxygen atoms produces ions, which give a primary spectrum. The individual peaks of this spectrum are ex tracted and dissociated in a collision cell. Mass analysis of the ions and of their fragments leads to the identification of silicon-oxygen derivatives, the composition of which is established by using the pres ence of the three naturally occurring isotopes of silicon. The derivat ives formed represent a series of silicon suboxides ranging from SiO t o Si10O3.SiO2 is weak, as expected from its normal existence as a thre e-dimensional lattice, nor as isolated molecules. (C) Academie des sci ences/Elsevier, Paris.