Kinetic electron emission from metals induced by impact of slow atomic particles

Available experimental data on the kinetic electron emission from metals bombarded by low energy atomic particles below the classical threshold were analyzed in terms of one-electron non-adiabatic model and in terms of phenomenological many-electron models. Total electron yields as a function of the particle velocity for several distinctly different substrate-particle systems were successfully interpreted using a phenomenological model. The essential microscopic mechanism of the model is the valence electron Auger interaction which leads to the Boltzmann - like energy distribution of the excited electrons in the impact zone.