The mechanism of enhanced desorption initiated by 15-keV C60 cluster ion bombardment of a Ag single crystal surface is examined using molecular dynamics computer simulations. The size of the model microcrystallite of 165,000 atoms and the sophistication of the interaction potential function yields data that should be directly comparable with experiment. The C60 model was chosen since this source is now being used in secondary ion mass spectrometry experiments in many laboratories. The results show that a crater is formed on the Ag surface that is approximately 10 nm in diameter, a result very similar to that found for Au3 bombardment of Au. The yield of Ag atoms is approximately 16 times larger than for corresponding atomic bombardment with 15-keV Ga atoms, and the yield of Ag3 is enhanced by a factor of 35. The essential mechanistic reasons for these differences is that the C60 kinetic energy is deposited closer to the surface, with the deeply penetrating energy propagation occurring via a nondestructive pressure wave. The numbers predicted by the model are testable by experiment, and the approach is extendable to include the study of organic overlayers on metals, a situation of growing importance to the SIMS community.

Molecular dynamics computer simulations have been utilized to compare the differences in the mechanism of sputtering of Ag{111} by kiloelectronvolt Ga and C 60 projectiles. The calculated kinetic energy distributions of Ag monomers and Ag 2 dimers compare favorably with experimental results. The damage caused by the C 60 particle left in the sample is less than the depth of material that the next impinging C 60 particle would remove, thus supporting the preliminary experimental observations that molecular depth profiling is possible with C 60 projectile beams.