Abstract
We present evidence for a fundamentally new mechanism for impact-induced desorption, viz., core-hole Auger decay. We thereby explain why observed thresholds for electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) of positive ions (, O, and ) from certain -band metal oxides (Ti, , and W) correlate in energy with the ionization potential of the highest-lying atomic core levels. We conclude that electron-stimulated desorption is in many interesting cases an atom-specific, valence-sensitive probe of surfaces.
- Received 12 January 1978
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.40.964
©1978 American Physical Society