Theoretical investigation of electron impact scattering cross sections of metal carbonyl precursors for FEBID applications

In this work, we have computed electron impact scattering cross sections for the organometallic complexes ${\mathrm{Ni(CO)}}_4$ and ${\mathrm{Fe(CO)}}_5$ that are used as precursors in the Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition (FEBID) technique. We have used a Spherical Complex Optical Potential (SCOP) formalism to calculate the total, integral elastic, inelastic, and momentum transfer cross sections and employed Complex Scattering Potential-ionization contribution (CSP-ic) formalism to calculate the ionization cross section for molecular targets. Calculations are performed above the ionization potential of targets in the energy range 12 – 5000 eV. We compare our results with the available data in the literature for ${\mathrm{Ni(CO)}}_4$, and due to the scarcity of available data for comparison and evaluation of our results, we use the reported values for ${\mathrm{W(CO)}}_6$ in our previous work as a qualitative reference. These findings provide critical cross section data for modeling the deposition of metal carbonyl precursors in the FEBID technique.