Secondary electron emission from insulators

The high yield of secondary electron emission from insulators due to electron bombardment may be the result of an increase of the depth of escape. The free-electron scattering theory is applied to the high energy of primary beams, but cannot be applied to the low energy of secondary escaping beams because of the large energy gap of the insulators. The plasmon loss with the valence electron is considered when the secondary electrons escape. Based on the energy retardation power formula of the penetration and energy loss of an electron probe into solid targets, secondary electron emissions from insulators are calculated from the assumptions that the distribution of the secondary electrons due to both incident and back-scattered electrons within the target is isotropic and that it follows the absorption law of the Lenard type. The universal yield-energy curve of the secondary electron emission, which is deduced as a function of three parameters such as ionisation potential, valence electron and the back-scattered coefficient in addition to the free-electron density effect, is found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. (author)