CORRELATION BETWEEN STICKING PROBABILITY AND ADSORBATE-INDUCED ELECTRON-STRUCTURE

To account for the loss in adsorbate kinetic energy necessary for the trapping of an adsorbate in the surface potential well, non-adiabatic processes must be considered. We propose an electronic mechanism for energy dissipation. Some trends in the specificity of the sticking probability s are shown to be understandable in terms of the probability that the system, due to the non-zero velocity of the impinging adsorbate, ends up in an excited electronic state. We study in particular the case, where holes are introduced in the adsorbate-induced electron structure below the Fermi level, by initially empty adsorbate states being shifted down and broadened upon approaching the surface. © 1979.