Electron emission from surfaces of alkali halides under the impact of metastable helium and neon atoms

Energy distributions of the electrons ejected from the evaporated film surfaces of LiF, LiCl, LiBr, NaF and NaCl by the impact of metastable He and Ne atoms have been measured. The observed distribution curves have two distinct structures: one peak is identified as the valence band structure caused by Penning ionization, while the other peak is ascribed to scattered electrons. The positions of the valence band peaks are shifted to lower ionization energy from the corresponding photoelectron peaks (by 0.1–1.5 eV depending on the substance). In contrast to the photoelectron spectra, the structure attributable to conduction bands appears only very weakly. The relative intensity of the peak caused by scattered electrons is either strong or weak depending on the combination of the metastable atom and the sample. The interpretation of this observation is that the scattered electron peak is enhanced when the energy of the metastable atom exceeds twice the band gap energy, i.e. when the electron—electron scattering of Penning electrons in the solid is feasible.