Adsorbate phase transformations and the coverage-dependent oscillation of electron transfer probabilities

We report a study of the effects of chlorine adsorption on the interaction of positive ions (H+, Ne+, Ar+ with a Ag(111) surface from the submonolayer Cl chemisorption to initial stages of AgCl formation. Cl adsorption on Ag(111) proceeds through different phases and we observed that the neutralization probabilities oscillate in this range, attaining an intermediate minimum at about 2/3 coverage and reach a maximum at full coverage. The subsequent appearance of AgCl phase again leads to a reduction in neutralization. These results are described in terms of changes in Auger neutralization rates due to modifications in the adsorbate density of states. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)71330-4].

The adsorption of chlorine affected the interaction of cations' surface starting from the submonolayer chlorine chemisorption and leading to the initial stages of silver chloride formation. The adsorption of chlorine on silver passed through different phases thereby leading to the occurrence of oscillations of neutralization probability in a particular range. The adsorption attained an intermediate minimum at two-third of the coverage reaching the maximum at full coverage. The reduction in neutralization due to the appearance of silver chloride phase resulted in the change of Auger neutralizations rates of adsorbate densities.