Ion-beam characteristics of the metal cluster complex of Ir4(CO)12

Tetrairidium dodecacarbonyl, Ir4(CO)12, is a metal cluster complex which has a molecular weight of 1104.9. Using a metal-cluster-complex ion source, it has been demonstrated that stable ion beams of Ir4(CO)7+ were produced. Energy dependence of sputtering yield of silicon bombarded with Ir4(CO)7+ ions was investigated at a beam energy from 2to10keV at normal incidence. Experimental results showed that the sputtering yield varied substantially with beam energy. The sputtering yield at 10keV was higher than that with SF5+ or Ar+ ions by a factor of 3–24, whereas the sputtering yield at 3keV was lower than that with Ar+ ions. In the case of 2keV, deposition was found to occur. The substantial variation in the sputtering yields was examined using empirical equations for calculating sputtering yields. It was shown that the high sputtering yield at 10keV would be due to what is called “nonlinear effect” unique to complex-projectile bombardment. It was also indicated that the substantial variation in the sputtering yield would result from lower kinetic energies of each atom constituting the cluster ions. Further, the deposition was explained by considering changes in surface properties caused by the irradiation of the cluster ions.