Electron Stimulated Desorption of Excited Neutrals: CO on W

A time-of-flight technique is used to study the release of excited neutrals and ions by electron-stimulated desorption ESD for the system CO on W. The method ensures the detection of the excited neutral particles without interference from photons produced by the electron beam. Use of a channel electron multiplier allows the counting of individual particle arrivals, insuring high sensitivity and allowing the use of low electron current densities. Energy distributions are obtained from the flight-time distributions for both kinds of particles, using a (100) single-crystal sample. The release of excited neutrals for this system in the temperature range 130 to 270 K is demonstrated.