Effect of atmospheric environment on the stability of secondary electron emission from magnesium oxide and alumina surfaces

Abstract

Abstract MgO and Al2O3 are two typical ceramics with high secondary electron yield (SEY) and are widely applied in electron multiplier devices as dynode coating. However, dynodes in multipliers are inevitably exposed to various environments, degenerating their SEY performance. To specify the influence of the atmospheric environment on SEY for MgO and Al2O3 ceramics, we conducted environmental stability experiments on MgO and Al2O3 nanofilms. By exposing the nanofilms fabricated by atomic layer deposition to air for certain durations, it was found that although the MgO film possessed high SEY, its SEY decreased significantly as the storage duration increased, specifically, its SEY peak value (δ m) decreased from 5.97 to 3.35 after 180 d. Whereas the SEY of the Al2O3 film changed very little with the storage duration extending, its δ m decreased from 4.01 to 3.70 after 180 d, indicating the Al2O3 film had good SEY environmental stability. To reveal the mechanism of SEY degradation, the modification analysis of surface composition was implemented. It was found that the surface of MgO film underwent degradation besides unavoidable contamination, generating Mg(OH)2 and MgCO3. Whereas, there is no chemical reaction occurred on the Al2O3 surface. Combining the advantages of high SEY of MgO and good environmental stability of Al2O3, several Al2O3/MgO double-layer nanofilms were prepared. The δ m value of 20 nm MgO nanofilms covered by 1 nm Al2O3, decreased from 4.90 to 4.56, with a reduction of only 6.94% after 180 d. The results showed that the Al2O3 film achieved effective protection of the MgO film. The SEY environmental stability of the double-layer structure was significantly improved, and the effect of thickness on SEY was theoretically interpreted. This work makes significant sense for understanding the influence of the environment on the SEY for MgO and Al2O3, which has potential applications in electron multipliers.