MASS SPECTRA AND DISSOCIATION PATTERNS OF TELLURIUM CLUSTERS USING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SECONDARY-ION MASS SPECTROMETRY
Size distribution of positive and negative tellurium clusters in the size range from 2 to 56 atoms was investigated by secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Cluster ions were produced by the 12-keV Xe+ ions bombardment of a sample tellurium sheet and were mass-analyzed using sector-type double-focusing mass spectrometers. It was found that a discontinuous variation of cluster-ion intensity appeared at specific numbers of n. These numbers were 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, and 23 for positive clusters and 6, 10, 13, and 16 for negative clusters. The dissociation pattern was also investigated by an acceleration-voltage scanning method. It was found that Te2, Te5, and Te6 fragmentation events occurred at a large probability. Observation of specific fragmentation patterns suggested the existence of nonsequential fragment channels.