Fine structure in the secondary electron emission peak for CVD diamond films with negative electron affinity

For the first time, a fine structure was observed in the low energy peak of the spectra of secondary electron emission from diamond with a negative electron affinity surface. The effect was studied for as-grown chemical-vapor-deposited polycrystalline well-faceted diamond films. We discovered that this structure is comprised of four well resolved peaks. The relative energy positions of three of them corresponded to the positions of the electron energy minima near the bottom of the conduction-band. The fourth peak, having the lowest energy, was attributed to the break up of the bulk excitons during the process of secondary electron emission