Transmission of electrons through insulating PET foils: Dependence on charge deposition, tilt angle and incident energy

Transmission of electrons through insulating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanocapillaries was observed as a function of charge deposition, angular and energy dependence. Two samples with capillary diameters 100 and 200 nm and pore densities 5 × 108/cm2 and 5 × 107/cm2, respectively, were studied for incident electron energies of 300, 500 and 800 eV. Transmission and steady state of the electrons were attained after a time delay during which only a few electron counts were observed. The transmission through the capillaries depended on the tilt angle with both elastic and inelastic electrons going through. The guiding ability of electrons was found to increase with the incident energy in contrast to previous measurements in our laboratory for a similar PET foil.