Effects of the atomic level shift in the Auger neutralization rates of noble metal surfaces

Abstract

In this work we compare characteristics of Auger neutralization of ${\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ ions at noble metal and free-electron metal surfaces. For noble metals, we find that the position of the energy level of He with respect to the Fermi level has a non-negligible influence on the values of the calculated Auger rates through the evaluation of the surface dielectric susceptibility. We conclude that even though our calculated rates are accurate, further theoretical effort is needed to obtain realistic values of the energy level of He in front of these surfaces.