Ab initio adiabatic study of the AgH system

In the framework of the Born–Oppenheimer (BO) method, we illustrate our ab-initio spectroscopic study of the of silver hydride molecule. The calculation of 48 electrons for this system is very difficult, so we have been employed a pseudo-potential (P.P) to reduce the big number of electrons to two electrons of valence, which is proposed by Barthelat and Durant. This allowed us to make a configuration interaction (CI). The potential energy curves (PECs) and the spectroscopic constants of AgH have been investigated for Σ+, Π and Δ symmetries. We have been determined the permanent and transition dipole moments (PDM and TDM), the vibrational energies levels and their spacing. We compared our results with the available experimental and theoretical results in the literature. We found a good accordance with the experimental and theoretical data that builds a validation of the choice of our approach.

Tin, The Enabler—Hydrogen Diffusion into Ruthenium

Hydrogen interaction with ruthenium is of particular importance for the ruthenium-capped multilayer reflectors used in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Hydrogen causes blistering, which leads to a loss of reflectivity. This problem is aggravated by tin. This study aims to uncover the mechanism via which tin affects the hydrogen uptake, with a view to mitigation. We report here the results of a study of hydrogen interaction with the ruthenium surface in the presence of tin using Density Functional Theory and charge density analyses. Our calculations show a significant drop in the energy barrier to hydrogen penetration when a tin atom or a tin hydride molecule (SnHx) is adsorbed on the ruthenium surface; the barrier has been found to drop in all tested cases with tin, from 1.06 eV to as low as 0.28 eV in the case of stannane (SnH4). Analyses show that, due to charge transfer from the less electronegative tin to hydrogen and ruthenium, charge accumulates around the diffusing hydrogen atom and near the ruthenium surface atoms. The reduced atomic volume of hydrogen, together with the effect of electron–electron repulsion from the ruthenium surface charge, facilitates subsurface penetration. Understanding the nature of tin’s influence on hydrogen penetration will guide efforts to mitigate blistering damage of EUV optics. It also holds great interest for applications where hydrogen penetration is desirable, such as hydrogen storage.