Surfaces of Electron-Emitting Glasses Studied by a Slow Positron Beam

Semi-conducting glasses used for electron multipliers and microchannel plate devices are obtained by surface modification of Pb or Bi-reach silicon-based glasses. The reduced layer extends down to 200-500 nm, much more than the effective depth of the electron-emitting layer. By the use of slow-positron beam we monitor the structural changes undergoing in near-to-surface layers after isothermal annealing. The measurements suggest a possible correlation between secondary-electron emission coefficient and the Doppler-broadening S-parameter. On these samples there were also performed atomic force microscopy, secondary electron emission, differential scanning calorimetry, and electric conductivity measurements.