Energy Dissipation and Secondary Electron Emission in Solids

Abstract

Experimental evidence is presented for the proportionality between secondary electron yield and the energy dissipated by electrons near the surface of a solid. Using measurements of the energy carried away by electrons transmitted and reflected from thin foils of aluminum and carbon, the energy dissipated in an incremental layer at the exit surface was obtained. Simultaneous measurements of the secondary electron yield showed a close proportionality between the number of secondaries produced and the energy dissipation density near the surface independent of the incident electron energy between 1 and 10 kev. By subtracting the contribution of the backscattered electrons to the yield at the front surface of a thick aluminum target, the yield of secondaries was found to be proportional to the rate of energy loss calculated from the Bohr-Bethe theory over the energy range investigated.