New experimental methodology for determining the second crossover energy in insulators under stationary e-irradiation in a SEM

Abstract

A new experimental methodology is proposed which uses the electrostatic influence method (EIM) in scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to estimate the second crossover energy E_C2 for uncharged insulators. This experimental methodology based on simultaneous time measurement of the displacement and leakage currents, is approached to the short pulse irradiation technique but under stationary e-irradiation and allows determining the intrinsic secondary electron emission yield, σ₀ (σ₀ is the value of the total secondary electron yield just at the beginning of the irradiation before significant charge accumulation or before the formation of a surface potential). The obtained value of E_C2 for soda-lime glass is confirmed by two additional experiments based on secondary electron imaging. This value is in good agreement with those previously obtained by other studies based on the surface potential measurement or the pulsed irradiation technique.