Secondary electron emission from chemical vapor deposited diamond films with negative electron affinity

Strong negative electron affinity effects have been observed on the surface of as-grown chemical vapor deposited polycrystalline diamond films using secondary electron emission. The effect appears as a large and narrow peak in the low energy part of the spectrum of the electron energy distribution and can be described in the model of effective negative electron affinity. We also observed, for the first time, a fine structure in the low energy peak of the secondary electrons which reflects the energy structure of the conduction band.