Kinetic electron excitation in atomic collision cascades

Area of Science:

• Solid-state physics
• Materials science
• Surface science

Background:

• Investigating electron excitation mechanisms in solids is crucial for understanding material properties.
• Traditional electron emission studies have limitations in probing certain excitation pathways.
• Energetic ion bombardment offers a unique method to induce electronic excitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the kinetic excitation of electrons in solids upon energetic ion bombardment.
• To explore a novel method for detecting hot electrons with excitation energies below the vacuum level.
• To establish the potential of this technique for internal excitation spectroscopy.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) junction device.
• Bombarding the solid surface with energetic ions.
• Detecting the resulting hot electrons and measuring the tunneling current.

Main Results:

• Hot electrons were successfully detected with excitation energies below the vacuum level.
• The observed tunneling current showed a dependence on projectile energy.
• The tunneling current was also found to be dependent on the applied bias voltage across the MIM junction.

Conclusions:

• The MIM junction method provides access to information not obtainable through conventional electron emission experiments.
• The observed dependencies suggest the potential for internal excitation spectroscopy.
• This technique opens new avenues for probing electronic excitation processes in materials.