Electron emission spectra by charging analysis

Abstract

The energy spectra of electrons emitted due to electron irradiation are essential in relevant scientific and technological fields. While the energy spectra of conductor materials are generally acquired using hemispherical electron energy analyzers, technical difficulties remain in the acquisition of these spectra when dielectric materials are involved, as these materials charge due to electron irradiation. In this work, the energy spectra were obtained taking advantage of the unavoidable effect of charging on the energy of the secondary electrons emitted from non-conductive surfaces. A novel time-resolved low-dose irradiation method was applied for the first time to obtain the energy spectra of copper, silver, and gold samples, with the results compared with the spectra measured by the hemispherical energy analyzer. This new method could be promising for obtaining the energy spectra of dielectric materials.

Keywords

• Electron energy spectra
• Secondary electron emission
• Surface charging
• Electron irradiation