Growth of hydrogenated Si clusters using a quadrupole ion trap

To investigate how stability of small Si clusters is affected by hydrogenation, SinH+xions (n=2–10) were grown from silane gas in a recently developed ion trap and the mass spectra were measured. Some compositions have been found to be particularly stable besides those already known for nonhydrogenated Si clusters such as Si6 and Si10. These clusters, Si5H10+, Si6H12+, and Si10H12–17+, are inferred to have the bulklike tetrahedrally coordinated structures whose dangling bonds are terminated by H atoms.