Deposition of mass-selected Ag-7 on Pd(100): Fragmentation and implantation

Mass-selected silver-cluster ions (Ag-7(+)) with an incident energy of 2.86 eV/atom and of 13.6 eV/atom are directed on a well-prepared Pd(100) surface, which is probed with thermal-energy atom (helium) scattering (TEAS), before, during, and after the deposition, yielding information on the collision process. We find that part of the cluster atoms are implanted into the surface layer, the fraction depending on the impact energy. Considerable fragmentation is present at both impact energies. Molecular dynamics calculations based on embedded atom method (EAM) potentials are used to model the collision process. These calculations confirm qualitatively the experimental results.