Electron Scattering from Fluorocarbons and Their Radicals

In spite of their importance to industry, experimental studies of electron interactions with highly-reactive CF$_x$ radicals are seldom reported in the literature. A crossed electron-molecular beam experiment, featuring a skimmed nozzle beam with pyrolytic radical production, has been used to measured absolute cross sections for electron scattering from the CF$_2$ molecule. A new technique for placing measured cross sections on an absolute scale is applied for molecular beams formed as skimmed supersonic jets. Absolute differential cross sections for CF$_2$ are reported for incident electron energies of 3-50 eV and over an angular range of 15-135 degrees. Integral cross sections are subsequently derived from those data. The present data are compared to theoretical predictions for the differential and integral scattering cross sections.