Secondary electron emission yield measurement of dielectric materials for satellite antenna

Abstract

Recently, there has been increasing interest on electron irradiation-induced secondary electron emission of dielectric materials because of its important role in many fields of applied physics. For example, secondary electron emission is a key issue in Satellite antenna electrostatic discharges, which pose grave threats to the stable running of many devices such as outside spacecraft. The secondary electron emission yield (SEY) is relatively easy to measure nowadays for conductors, but troublesome for dielectric materials because of charge accumulation. In order to solve the charging problem, the pulsed method is used to measure dielectric materials. The sample is bombarded with low-electron dose to avoid the space charge effects. The samples were irradiated with a single current pulse with a duration lower than 190 ns for each primary energy and a spot size of 1 cm2 and always low current to allowing a dose lower than 106 electrons/pulse. The SEY of dielectric materials including PMMA, Kapton, Nylon, Teflon and Polyethylence has been measured as a function of the primary energy, and we have obtained the total δ max (maximum SEY), E max , and E 1 (first cross-over energy for SEY = 1) parameters.