Dependence of secondary-electron emission from amorphous materials on primary angle of incidence

A series of measurements on the secondary-electron emission properties of a range of amorphous materials have been carried out under very stringent experimental conditions for various angles of incidence, over a wide range of primary energies. For these amorphous materials the effects of varying the angle of incidence of the primary beam agree with the predictions of simple theory. The measurements indicate that the rate of energy loss of a primary electron within the solid is reasonably well described over a limited range of energies by a power law. The value of the power-law exponent is slightly higher than the value of 1.35 suggested by Young and appears to vary with the atomic number of the target material. The inelastic reflection coefficient for these amorphous materials increases slightly with increasing angle of incidence.