Electron emission from a glass surface subjected to an intensive electron beam

Electron-beam processing of insulating materials faces some difficulties connected with electric charge accumulation during electron irradiation. In this paper investigation of charging dynamics of glasses subjected to electron beam, is presented. It was found that secondary emission from the surface is not the only way of excess charge vanishing in some insulating materials. Under certain circumstances, strong electric field of introduced charge may result in intensive hot electron emission from the surface. This emission, in turn, leads to this charge rapid disappearing. This mechanism prevents such insulators from charging under the electron beam irradiation and facilitates processing them significantly. Main features of emission of this kind are discussed.