FRAGMENTATION OF SPUTTERED CLUSTER IONS OF TRANSITION-METALS - DISTRIBUTIONS OF LIFETIMES AND INTERNAL ENERGIES

Dissociation energies, lifetime distributions and internal energies ha ve been determined experimentally for Fe-n(+) (4 less than or equal to n less than or equal to 10) clusters produced by sputtering under 8.5 keV Xe+ ion bombardment. The average lifetimes and the average intern al energies were calculated from the experimental distributions. A com parison between the results of the present work on Ta-n(+) and Nb-n(+) clusters and those obtained earlier has been made. For all sputtered clusters compared, the linear dependence of the average internal energ y (E) over bar(int) on the number of atoms, n, in the cluster has been identified. Good qualitative agreement has been found between experim ental results and theoretical values determined from MD-simulations of cluster sputtering processes.