Monte Carlo study of ion-induced backward and forward secondary electron emission from thin Al foil

A direct Monte Carlo program has been developed to calculate the backward (γ_b) and forward (γ_f) electron emission yields from 20 nm thick Al foil for impact of C⁺, Al⁺, Ar⁺, Cu⁺ and Kr⁺ ions having energies in the range of 0.1-10 keV/amu. The program incorporates the excitation of target electrons by projectile ions, recoiling target atoms and fast primary electrons. The program can be used to calculate the electron yields, distribution of electron excitation points in the target and other physical parameters of the emitted electrons. The calculated backward electron emission yield and the Meckbach factor R = γ_f/γ_b are compared with the available experimental data, and a good agreement is found. In addition, the effect of projectile energy and mass on the longitudinal and lateral distribution of the excitation points of the electrons emitted from front and back of Al target has been investigated.     

Young-type interferences using single-electron sources and an atomic-size two-center interferometer: Dependence with interferometer parameters

We present the realization of a Young-type double-slit experiment, in which single electrons, scattering on two protons, produce interference pattern. The electrons are produced by a Auger effect, following double capture process in low He²⁺ + H₂ collisions. Well-defined oscillations are visible in the angular distribution of the electrons emitted towards the receding protons. The presence of these oscillations is a clear demonstration that an electron interferes with itself. We also discuss the dependence of the interference pattern with interference parameters, such as the electron wavelength as well as the distance between the protons when the electron is ejected.     

Secondary electron yields from the entrance and exit surfaces of thin carbon foils induced by penetration of H+, H0 and H+2 projectiles (1.2 MeV/u)

We report experimental work on secondary electron emission from both entrance (γ_b) and exit (γ_f) surfaces of thin carbon foils traversed by H⁺, H⁰ and H⁺₂ projectiles (1.2 MeV/u). Secondary electron coefficients γ_b and γ_f, were measured simultaneously. The results are discussed in the framework of a semiempirical model for kinetic emission of target electrons from solid surfaces.     

Implantation of anatase thin film with 100 keV Fe ions: Damage formation and magnetic behaviour

We have investigated the damage morphology and magnetic properties of titanium dioxide thin films following implantation with Fe ions. The titanium dioxide films, having a polycrystalline anatase structure, were implanted with 100 keV ⁵⁶Fe⁺ ions to a total fluence of 1.3 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm². The ion bombardment leads to an amorphized surface with no indication of the presence of secondary phases or Fe clusters. The ion-beam induced damage manifested itself by a marked change in surface morphology and film thickness. A room temperature ferromagnetic behaviour was observed by SQUID in the implanted sample. It is believed that the ion-beam induced damage and defects in the polycrystalline anatase film were partly responsible for the observed magnetic response.     

Secondary electron emission from the entrance and exit surfaces of thin carbon foils under fast ion bombardment

The total secondary electron emission (SEE) yield from the entrance and exit surfaces of thin carbon foils under fast ion (¹⁶O, ¹⁹F, ³⁵Cl) bombardment has been measured as a function of the ion energy and the ion beam current intensity. Using a retarding field, the energy distribution of secondary electrons integrated over almost all angles of emission in the backward and forward directions has also been measured. It is found that total forward emission is larger than backward emission by factors of up to 2.5, 2.7 and 3.4 for ¹⁶O⁺³, ¹⁹F⁺³ and ³⁵Cl⁺⁵, respectively. It is suggested that the enhancement of forward SEE may be partly due to effects from the instantaneous charge state of the heavy ion beam in the solid in addition to the binary collisions of the projectile with individual electrons in the target. It is also shown that the total SEE yield from the entrance and exit surfaces of the target foils decreases with ion beam current intensity; this may be a beam-induced temperature effect. The total SEE yield in both the forward and backward directions is less sensitive to surface conditions for high velocity ions than for low velocity ions and the total yield from both surfaces of the foils is proportional to the ion stopping power in the target, where the constant of proportionality depends on the properties of material.     

8 MeV electron irradiation effects in silicon photo-detectors

Results of investigations on the electrical properties of n⁺-p-p⁺ silicon (Si) photo-detectors irradiated with 8 MeV electrons are presented. The photo-detectors were irradiated with electrons of doses up to 100 kGy. Current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics under dark conditions were measured as a function of dose. A significant change in the diffusion component of the saturation current is observed after irradiation, while the generation-recombination component of the saturation current remains almost unchanged. The series resistance is found to increase with increasing dose while the shunt resistance and carrier concentration decrease with dose. Optoelectronic properties, namely short circuit current I_sc, open circuit voltage V_oc under air mass zero illumination and spectral response, were measured at various doses. From the spectral responses of the devices, the minority carrier diffusion length was estimated.     

Temperature-dependent surface modification of InSb(0 0 1) crystal by low-energy ion bombardment

Structural and compositional modification of InSb(0 0 1) single crystal surfaces induced by oblique incidence 2-5 keV Ar and Xe ion irradiation have been investigated by means of scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopies, and time-of-flight mass spectroscopy of secondary ion emission. In general, ion-induced patterns (networks of nanowires, or ripples) are angle of incidence- and fluence-dependent. Temperature dependences (from 300 to 600 K) of the RMS roughness and of the ripple wavelength have been determined for the samples bombarded with various fluences. Secondary ion emission from an InSb(0 0 1) surface exposed to 4.5 keV Ar⁺ ions has been investigated with a linear TOF spectrometer working in a static mode. Mass spectra of the sputtered In⁺, Sb⁺ and In₂⁺ secondary ions have been measured both for the non-bombarded (0 0 1) surface and for the surface previously exposed to a fluence of 10¹⁶ ions/cm². In⁺ and In₂⁺ intensities for the irradiated sample are much higher in comparison to the non-bombarded one, whereas Sb⁺ ions show a reversed tendency. This behavior suggests a significant In-enrichment at the InSb(0 0 1) surface caused by the ion bombardment.     

Secondary electron emission from a thin carbon foil induced by equi-velocity protons and electrons of 0.5-3.5 MeV/u

The statistical distributions of the number of simultaneously forward-emitted secondary electrons (SEs) from a thin carbon foil have been measured with H⁰ and H⁺ projectiles of 0.5-3.5 MeV in coincidence with the foil-transmitted protons, irrespective of projectile incident charge state. From these results, the probabilities of the simultaneous emission of n electrons and the SE yields by loss electrons have been evaluated. At energies of 2.5-3.5 MeV, the obtained emission probabilities and the SE yields induced by loss electrons are larger than the corresponding ones by protons of the same velocity. Furthermore, the material parameter is found to be almost constant and is slightly larger than that for the protons. On the other hand, the forward SE yields by loss electrons is decreasing to zero with decreasing the incident energy. This behavior is consistent with the range-energy relation of electrons in carbon.     

The influence of projectile charge state on ionization probabilities of sputtered atoms

The ionization probability of atoms sputtered from a clean polycrystalline metal surface was measured for different charge states of the projectile used to bombard the sample. More specifically, a polycrystalline indium surface was irradiated with Ar⁺ and Ar⁰ beams of energies between 5 and 15 keV, and In⁺ secondary ions and neutral In atoms emitted from the surface were detected under identical experimental conditions regarding the sampled emission angle and energy. The resulting energy integrated ionization probability of sputtered In atoms is consistently found to be smaller for neutral projectiles, the difference decreasing with decreasing impact energy. The observed trends agree with those measured for kinetic electron emission, indicating that secondary ion formation is at least partly governed by kinetic substrate excitation.     

Autoionization of N (q = 1-3) Rydberg states produced in high-energy collisions with He

Energy spectra of electrons ejected through autoionization decay of high-Rydberg states in high-energy collisions of N^q+ (q = 1-3) with He have been measured with high-resolution by using zero-degree electron spectroscopy. Several series of autoionizing lines were observed, corresponding to decays from N³⁺ 1s²2p(²P)nl Rydberg states produced in N³⁺ + He collisions, from N²⁺ 1s²2s2p(³P)nl Rydberg states produced in N²⁺ + He and from N⁺ 1s²2s2p²(⁴P)nl Rydberg states produced in N⁺ + He, respectively. Angular momentum distributions for the first or second peak of three series of Coster-Kronig electron transitions for N^q+ (q = 1-3) projectiles are also discussed, where the highly excited states are formed by electron excitation.     

Surface requirements for electrostatic direct energy converters

There are two major electrostatic direct energy converter concepts which will be discussed from the point of view of the surfaces. One is the Venetian blind concept and the other is the periodic electrostatic focusing concept. They are both of the direct collector type. Fluxes of D⁺, T⁺, He⁺⁺, electrons, and X-rays are given. Design consideration due to thermionic emission, secondary electron emission, and radiation cooling are discussed. A detailed discussion is devoted to breakdown physics, the voltages and electric field strengths that can be employed, and how surface deterioration may affect voltage holding due to He⁺⁺ bombardment blistering.     

Effect of spin polarization of Ni(1 1 0) surface on Auger neutralization for grazing scattering of He ions

The survival of ions during grazing scattering of keV He⁺ ions from a clean Ni(1 1 0) surface is studied as function of target temperature. We observe ion fractions in the scattered beams of typically 10⁻³ which show a slight increase with temperature of the target surface. From computer simulations of projectile trajectories we attribute this enhancement for ion fractions to effects of thermal vibrations of lattice atoms on the survival of ions in their initial charge state. Based on concepts of Auger neutralization, we discuss the role of the spin polarization of target electrons on charge transfer. We do not find corresponding signatures in our data and conclude that in the present case of Ni(1 1 0) the spin polarization has to be small.     

Electrical properties of silicon diodes with pn junctions irradiated with Au swift heavy ions

Electrical properties of silicon diodes with p⁺n junctions irradiated with ¹⁹⁷Au⁺²⁶ swift heavy ions (energy E = 350 MeV, fluences of 10⁷ cm⁻² and 10⁸ cm⁻²) and silicon diodes irradiated with electrons (energy E = 3.5 MeV, fluences of 10¹⁵ cm⁻², 5 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻² and 10¹⁶ cm⁻²) have been investigated. Frequency dependences of the impedance, current-voltage characteristics and switching characteristics of these devices have been studied. Irradiation of the diodes with ¹⁹⁷Au⁺²⁶ ions at a fluence of 10⁸ cm⁻² leads to the formation of a quasi-continuous layer of irradiation-induced defects that enable a combination of characteristics such as a reverse resistance recovery time and direct voltage drop that are better than those for electron-irradiated diodes. Still, the irradiation of high-energy ions results in an increase in recombination currents that are larger than those obtained with electron irradiation, and causes more complicated frequency dispersion of the diode parameters.     

Cesium/xenon co-sputtering at different energies during ToF-SIMS depth profiling

In this paper, ToF-SIMS dual beam depth profiles of H-terminated silicon wafers were performed with cesium primary ions and for different beam energies. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the cesium beam energy on the secondary ion yields during ToF-SIMS dual beam depth profiling. For this purpose, both the cesium beam energy and the cesium surface concentration were varied but the analysis conditions were kept identical for all depth profiles (i.e. Ga⁺ at 25 keV, 45°). For each sputter beam energy (i.e. 250 eV, 750 eV and 2000 eV), the cesium surface concentration was varied by diluting the cesium sputtering beam by xenon ions. This technique allows performing ToF-SIMS depth profiles with cesium surface concentration varying from zero (for pure xenon beam) to a maximum value (for pure Cs beam), depending on the bombardment conditions. For all the beam energies, the Si⁺ signals were found to decrease with the increasing cesium coverage and the lower the energy, the faster the decrease. The Cs⁺, the SiCs⁺ and the signals were found to exhibit a maximum for well defined Cs/Xe mixtures, which were found to depend on the secondary ion species and on the beam energy. Moreover, the maxima were found to shift to higher Cs beam content with the increasing energy. This effect is due to the variation of the cesium surface concentration with the varying beam energy. XPS analysis of the Cs/Xe craters and DYNTRIM computer simulations allowed us to convert the cesium beam scale to a cesium surface concentration scale and to interpret our results.     

Synchrotron X-ray induced damage in polymer (PS) thin films

Thin polystyrene (PS) films (M_w = 234,000) are spin coated on silicon substrates with a Chromium (Cr) layer as a sandwiched metallic layer that produces photoelectrons (by synchrotron X-rays). Earlier studies on synchrotron radiation damage in PS films, without metallic layer, have shown a decrease in interfacial roughness and a slight increase in thickness, at temperatures below T_g [A.G. Richter, R. Guico, K. Shull, J. Wang, Macromolecules 39 (2006) 1545]. Similar trend is observed in the presence of a thin layer of Cr film (∼2.5 nm). For the sample with a thick Cr layer the opposite effect was observed for X-ray radiation damage. For the 50 nm thick Cr film system thickness of the polystyrene film decreased by ≈4.4% which amount to a loss of about 0.021 nm³ per incident photon in the fluence range studied (6.8 × 10⁹ photons mm⁻² to 1 × 10¹⁴ photons mm⁻²). Interfacial roughness also increased from about 1.0 nm to 2.1 nm in the process. These effects are explained by invoking the presence of more number of X-ray induced photoelectrons and secondary electrons for 50 nm thick Cr film case compared to 2.5 nm thin film case.     

Separation of potential and kinetic electron emission from Si and W induced by multiply charged neon and argon ions

The total secondary electron emission yields, γ_T, induced by impact of the fast ions Ne^q+ (q = 2-8) and Ar^q+ (q = 3-12) on Si and Ne^q+ (q = 2-8) on W targets have been measured. It was observed that for a given impact energy, γ_T increases with the charge of projectile ion. By plotting γ_T as a function of the total potential energy of the respective ion, true kinetic and potential electron yields have been obtained. Potential electron yield was proportional to the total potential energy of the projectile ion. However, decrease in potential electron yield with increasing kinetic energy of Ne^q+ impact on Si and W was observed. This decrease in potential electron yield with kinetic energy of the ion was more pronounced for the projectile ions having higher charge states. Moreover, kinetic electron yield to energy-loss ratio for various ion-target combinations was calculated and results were in good agreement with semi-empirical model for kinetic electron emission.     

Coherent pair production by energetic gamma rays incident on quasicrystals

We develop a Born-approximation theory of coherent pair production (CPP) of electrons by energetic gamma rays incident on an icosahedral quasicrystal, described by a schematic model (K model) that includes phonon and phason disorder. Our main result is a formula for the cross-section dσ_cpp/dε₊ for CPP, differential with respect to the positron energy ε₊ and of order α² in the fine-structure constant α ≈ 1/137, but which is otherwise exact. We discuss results of numerical calculations of dσ_cpp/dε₊ versus y = ε₊/k for gamma rays of energies k = 20 MeV, 200 MeV, and 3 GeV, incident on icosahedral Al-Mn-Si, described as a special case of the K model (vertex model). This consists in placing an Mn atom at each vertex of the relevant Ammann tiles. Our calculations include CPP of types A and B. Both types exhibit vertical intensity drops at irregularly distributed y-values, many of these drops being so large that they should be observable experimentally. They are analogous to the large intensity drops exhibited by coherent bremsstrahlung in quasicrystals. We predict that CPP drops also occur for realistic models of i-Al-Mn-Si at the same y-values as for the vertex model, but whose magnitudes may differ from those predicted by this model.     

Ionic Processes of γ-Irradiated Triphenylamine in 3-Methylpentane Glass at 77°K

The ionic processes of γ-irradiated triphenylamine (TPA) in 3-methylpentane glass (3-MP) have been studied. The thermoluminescence curve of the irradiated sample shows two maxima at 77°–83°K and 83°–90°K. The effects of differences in radiation dose and of time elapsed after irradiation at 77°K on the luminescence yield of these two peaks have been examined. The optical absorptions of trapped electrons (e ^? _t ), TPA⁺ and TPA^? are measured as functions of the storage time at 77°K and of the elevation of temperature. The results for IR and UV bleaching and for prolonged storage at 77°K suggest the presence of negative species other than e ^? _t and TPA^?. In the irradiated sample at 77°K in the presence of 10^?4–10^?3 M TPA, positive and negative species other than TPA⁺ and TPA^? exist and these charges are transferred to TPA to form TPA⁺ and TPA^? by warming. These behaviors of the ionic species are discussed.     

Luminescence characteristics of Tl ions co-doped RbCl:Eu crystals

RbCl:Eu²⁺ single crystals which are co-doped with thallium display characteristic Eu²⁺ emission around 420 nm and additional emission band at 312 nm with a weak shoulder around 390 nm attributable to centers involving Tl⁺ ions. Additional excitation and emission bands observed in Tl⁺ doped RbCl:Eu²⁺ single crystals are attributed to the presence of Eu²⁺ aggregates and complex centres involving both Eu²⁺ and Tl⁺ ions. Inclusion of Tl⁺ ions in RbCl:Eu²⁺ crystals is found to enhance the intensity of Eu²⁺ emission at 420 nm due to an energy transfer from Tl⁺ → Eu²⁺ ions.     

The secondary-electron yield measured for 5–24 MeV protons on aluminum-oxide and gold targets

The yield of first-surface secondary electrons from H⁺ impact on aluminum and gold targets is measured. Data are obtained for proton energies of 5 ≤ E ≤ 24 MeV on aluminum and 5 ≤ E ≤ 18 MeV on gold, and these data are compared with theoretical expectations and with previous data for lower proton energies. An empirical curve for the yield from aluminum-oxide is obtained from a theoretical curve for pure aluminum by using earlier measurements of primary-electron-produced yields from both aluminum and aluminum-oxide.