Mass Spectrometric Measurements of GeO₂(g) over GeO₂ and Some Discussion on Molecular Structure of Ge₃O₃(g)

Abstract

The vapor species of GeO, GeO₂, Ge₂O₂, and Ge₃O₃ over germanium dioxide were observed by means of the Knudsen effusion mass spectrometric method. Among them the dioxide vapor, GeO₂(g), was first detected and its partial pressure over the temperature range of 1180 to 1370°C was measured and expressed by the equation;
log {p(GeO₂, g)/atm} = 6.05 - (1.88 × 10⁴/T)
The 3-membered Ge-ring structure of Ge₃O₃ (g) was proposed to be more possible than the alternate 6-membered structure judging from the fact that the fragment ions of Ge₃⁺ and Ge₃O⁺ were detected and that the approximate molecular orbital calculation revealed the intrinsic stability of Ge₃⁺ ion.