Ultraviolet and electron radiation induced fragmentation of adsorbed ferrocene

From thermal desorption spectroscopy we find that ferrocene, Fe(C₅H₅)₂, adsorbs and desorbs associatively on Ag(100). Photoemission results indicate that the initially adsorbed surface species closely resembles that of molecular ferrocene. The shift in photoemission binding energies relative to the gas phase is largely independent of the molecular orbital. We find that ultraviolet light does lead to partial fragmentation of the ferrocene and that the molecular fragments are much more strongly bound to the surface than the associatively adsorbed ferrocene. Since fragmentation occurs only in the presence of incident radiation, selective area deposition from this class of molecules is possible. Using a focused electron beam in a scanning transmission electron microscope, we show that selective area deposition of features with resolution of a few hundred angstroms is readily achieved.