THE TRANSPORT OF KEV ENERGY ELECTRONS IN SI STUDIED BY ION-INDUCED AUGER EXCITATION IN COMBINATION WITH CHANNELING

Energy spectra have been measured for KLL Auger electrons emitted from a Si(100) single crystal under impact by a 1 MeV He+ beam for conditions of random and channeling incidence. Information about electron transport, in particular the transport elastic mean free path, is obtained by analysis of the energy distribution of the Auger electrons. The spectral intensity of the Auger electrons measured under random incidence conditions is approximately constant for electron energies E extending from the Auger transition energy E(A) at 1620 eV down to 1500 eV. It falls off approximately as 1/square-root E(A) - E for lower electron energies. This result is qualitatively in agreement with theoretical models. However, the transport elastic mean free path that follows from the analysis of the spectra is much lower than theoretically expected.