Surface charging of dielectrics by secondary emission and determination of emission yield

A new method for the determination of the secondary emission yield of dielectrics is discussed. Results are given for Teflon, Aclar, Kapton, and Mylar. Surfaces of dielectrics irradiated with electrons of energies above 2 keV become negatively charged. For lower energies the number of back-scattered primaries plus backward emitted secondaries eventually exceeds that of the incoming primaries. Then the surface can be positively charged [1]. It was recognized that this effect might lead to a simple method for the determination of the total backscatter plus secondary emission yield [2]. This effect is used to determine the total emission yield curve in one run with a single beam energy.