LASER-INDUCED DESORPTION

This article surveys the present state of the experimental investigations dealing with photostimulated desorption from the solid surface upon excitation by laser radiation. Emphasis is put on Russian research of the laser desorption from semiconductor surfaces. The time-of-flight technique for the analysis of desorbed particles with respect to masses and initial energies is described. The principal regularities of the photodesorption from the semiconductor surfaces characterized by the different degrees of ionicity are considered. Qualitative physical models of the laser induced from electronic and molecular surface processes leading to the desorption are discussed. © 1991, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.