STABILITY OF IONICALLY BONDED SURFACES IN IONIZING ENVIRONMENTS

We present criteria for the stability of ionic materials in ionizing environments, confining ourselves to cases where the core hole Auger decay mechanism of Knotek and Feibelman is applicable. The main result is that Auger induced decomposition will not occur unless the cation species in the solid is ionized down to a relatively deep filled shell. This shell must be sufficiently deep that an Auger decay starting from it will release the energy necessary for decomposition. The degree to which covalency in bonding affects stability is discussed. We show how these concepts can be applied by examination of the periodic table and a table of electron binding energies. © 1979.