Direct Monte Carlo Simulation of Ion-Induced Kinetic Electron Emission Statistics

A Monte Carlo simulation is performed for the study of the statistics of kinetic secondary electron emission from a gold surface under 1-5 keV H + ion bombardment. In this simulation, the cross section of the excitation of conduction electrons by a proton is calculated by means of the Lindhard dielectric theory, and the cascade multiplication of secondary electrons inside the solid is involved. The calculated results are consistent with experimental data and reveal the origin of the deviation from the Poisson distribution, which corresponds to the contributions from the cascade multiplication of secondary electrons (low-impact energy) and the backscattering of projectile ions (high-impact energy).