SEPARATION OF SAMPLE GEOMETRY AND MATERIAL EFFECTS WITHIN THE SECONDARY-ELECTRON CASCADE - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS FOR GOLD

Experimental results are reported for the energy-analysed angular distributions of the secondary electron cascade with energies from 200 eV up to 2450 eV using an incident beam energy of 20 keV and samples of Au and Au on Si. These angular distributions are compared to those of the Auger electron emission of the same samples. The dependence of the shape of the secondary electron cascade on the angle of incidence and the take-off angle to the analyser is examined. In the case of Au, the results are reported for a bulk and a layered specimen consisting of a thin Au film on an Si substrate. It is concluded for these samples that the contributions of the sample geometry and atomic number to the shape of the electron spectrum can be separated within a power law description of the secondary electron cascade.