Electron-stimulated desorption of sodium atoms from oxidized molybdenum

The time-of-flight technique combined with a surface-ionization-based detector has been used to investigate the yield and energy distribution of sodium atoms escaping in electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) from adlayers on the surface of molybdenum oxidized to various degrees and maintained at T=300 K as functions of incident electron energy and surface coverage by sodium. The sodium-atom ESD threshold is about 25 eV, irrespective of sodium coverage and extent of molybdenum oxidation. Molybdenum covered by an oxygen monolayer exhibits secondary thresholds at ∼40 eV and ∼70 eV, as well as low-energy tailing of the energy distributions, its extent increasing with surface coverage by sodium Θ. The most probable kinetic energies of sodium atoms are about 0.23 eV, irrespective of the degree of molybdenum oxidation and incident electron energy at Θ=0.125, and decrease to 0.17 eV as the coverage grows to Θ=0.75. The results obtained are interpreted within a model of Augerstimulated desorption, in which adsorbed sodium ions are neutralized by Auger electrons appearing as the core holes in the 2sO, 4sMo, and 4pMo levels are filled. It has been found that the appearance of secondary thresholds in ESD of neutrals, as well as the extent of their energy distributions, depend on surface coverage by the adsorbate.