Behaviour of glass containing alkali ions under electron- irradiation

The aim of this work is to study the electron irradiation behavior of glass containing alkali ions using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Charge trapping and charge spreading in this kind of glass have been examined using a time resolved current method. Our interest concerns more particularly the dynamic behaviour and the amount of the space charge build-up during and after electron irradiation under various primary beam energies. The time constants for charging and discharging processes are evaluated. As expected, the trapping and detrapping processes appear to be extremely dependent on the incident beam energy and on the chemical composition of the studied glass.