Secondary Electron Emission from Solids

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study of secondary electron emission from solids. The phenomenon of secondary emission (SE) from solids was discovered in 1902 and has been the subject of numerous experimental and theoretical investigations. It consists in the following process: If primary electrons (P) impinge on a solid, secondary electrons (S) are observed leaving the surface in free space. The maximal experimental information about these S can be obtained (neglecting spin) by measuring the number of S emitted per second from 1 cm2 of the surface with energy E in the direction Ω(ν,φ). This function is the detailed current density of observed S, denoted by js(E,Ω). The js(E,Ω) can depend only on the states of the interacting systems, that is to say, on the properties of the primary beam arid on the physical and chemical properties of the emitter, such as chemical composition, crystal structure, surface conditions, temperature, and so on. In this chapter, a qualitative description is presented of how the different elementary processes of SE are connected with one another. It discusses the distribution function. Experimental investigations, particularly those published in recent years, are also discussed.