Inelastic scattering of molecules from a liquid polymer surface

The (dissociative) scattering of CF+ and CF2+ ions from a perfluoropolyethe r is analyzed on the basis of the conservation laws of energy and momentum. The ion-surface collisions are treated as binary collisions between the pr imary ions and a representative group of the perfluoropolyether molecule. T he energy partition between the two particles is analyzed on the basis of a statistical distribution between harmonic oscillators. The energy transfer between the individual atoms is treated as inelastic rovibrational excitat ion. This method not only allows us to draw some general conclusions concer ning the dynamics of this type of molecule-surface collision, but also to e stimate the dissociation probability of the scattered molecules as a functi on of the scattering angle and the energy loss. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)70948-7].