Effect of Cluster Surface Energies on Secondary-Ion-Intensity Distributions from Ionic Crystals

Abstract
Ultrahigh-mass cluster ions (mz>18000) of the type [M(MX)n]+ have been produced by xenon-ion bombardment of CsI and detected by a high-performance secondary-ion mass spectrometer. The mass spectra (ion intensity versus n) show anomalous behavior which is correlated with hypothesized dominance of cubiclike clusters having low surface energies.