Electron collision with B(CD3)3molecules

Absolute total cross section (TCS) for electron–trimethylborane-d 9 (B(CD 3 ) 3 , TMB-d 9 ) collisions has been measured at energies ranging from 0.4 to 370 eV using the linear electron-transmission technique. The most visible feature of the TCS energy function is a pronounced broad enhancement peaked between 5 and 10 eV. Some weak structures are also perceptible in the TCS curve. At intermediate energies the experimental results are compared with the cross section obtained as a sum of the integral elastic and ionization cross sections calculated in this work for the B(CH 3 ) 3 molecule. Similarities observed in cross sections for planar, boron-containing BX 3 (X = F, Cl, CD 3 ) molecules are also pointed out and discussed.