title: Negative gas-phase ion chemistry of silane: A quadrupole ion trap study.
abstract: Silicon clusters are of considerable interest for their importance in astrophysics and chemical vapour deposition processes, as well as from a fundamental point of view. Here, we present a quadrupole ion trap study of the self-condensation ion/molecule reactions of anions of silane. In the high-pressure regime, several ion clusters are formed with increasing size: the largest ions detected are Si5Hn- (n = 0-3). Selective ion isolation and storage allowed detection of the main reaction sequences occurring in the reacting system. The most frequent condensation step is followed by single or multiple dehydrogenation, this latter being particularly observed for the high-mass reactant ions. As a consequence, the most abundant ions in the mass spectra are those with a low content of hydrogen, namely Si2H-, Si3H-, and Si4H-. These results are discussed with reference to literature data on silicon cluster anions and related systems.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Generale ed Organica Applicata and NIS Centre of Excellence, Università degli Studi di Torino, Corso Massimo d'Azeglio 48, 10125 Torino, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Operti
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rabezzana
authors.forename: Gian Angelo
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Vaglio