The Role of the Auger Mechanism in the Radiation Damage of Insulators

Abstract

The ionization damage associated with electron and X-ray irradiationof insulating specimens during their investigation by various techniques(EM, AES, XPS, etc.) is considered from the point of view of theAuger mechanism. This damage results from the Auger electron transportthrough the specimen and more specifically from the Auger cascadein the excited atom. After electronic rearrangements, this cascadefinally leaves elctron vacancies in the uppermost allowed statesof the valence band. It is shown that these vacancies may explainvarious experimental results, such as the valent crystals. A possibleway to quantify these effects is shown for the case of X-ray irradiationand for the case of electron irradiation. In the two cases, the correlationbetween microscopic mechanisms and their macroscopic consequences,from the point of view of charging effects, is pointed out for thefirst time. Finallyvarious positive aspects of these effects areoutlined. They concern some new methods of characterization and ofelaboration in materials science.