Ion-induced secondary electron emission from MgO and Y2O3 thin films

We report a detailed study of the electron emission from MgO and Y2O3 induced by the impact of 0.1–1 keV Ar+ ions. The mechanisms of ion-induced secondary electron emission from oxides are far less understood because charging of the target surface during ion irradiation prohibits the precise measurement of electron yield. For this study, targets were prepared by depositing 20 nm thick films of MgO and Y2O3 on the semi-conducting SnO2 substrate, which helps in charge neutralization. Additionally, a pulsed ion beam was used to further reduce the surface charging. It was found that the electron yield of both targets increases with energy of the ion. However, at a given ion energy the electron yield of Y2O3 was larger than MgO. Another important result of this study is that the electron emission from these large band gap insulators did not show any threshold effect, in contrast to the metal targets. It may be due to local reduction of the band gap through electron promotion processes. In addition, a Monte Carlo program was used to calculate the yield of secondary electrons excited by projectile ions, recoiling target atoms and electron cascades, and average escape depth of the secondary electrons emitted from the MgO and Y2O3 thin films.