Reactive scattering of clusters and cluster ions from solid surfaces

Specific chemical reactions take place in a cluster when it impinges on a solid surface. These intracluster processes ranging from vibrational excitation to atomic rearrangements are called ‘cluster-impact’ processes, the features of which change specifically with the collision energy and the cluster size. The specificity of the cluster-impact processes arises from impulsive energy transmission to specific modes of the cluster followed by rapid energy redistribution among other degrees of freedom, including those of the surface. In this review, citing several representative collision systems (cluster + surface), we explain the features of a cluster-impact process by dividing the collision energy into several energy ranges, in each of which a characteristic feature is manifested; high vibrational excitation of fullerenes in the lowest energy range, mechanical bond splitting of and a four-centre reaction between N 2 and O 2 in a higher energy range, etc.