Study of discharge after electron irradiation in sapphires and polycrystalline alumina

Abstract

The fraction R of charges undergoing discharge during the time separating two electron pulses is derived from the induced current method developed in a scanning electron microscope. Irradiation is performed via a 10 keV defocused electron beam and low current density. The evolution of R with temperature (in the range 300–663 K) obeys to an Arrhenius type relation. Activation energies connected with the processes involved are deduced. In sapphire, no discernible discharge is observed due to the dominance of deep traps. In silver doped sapphire, R increases sharply from 10% to 70% as the temperature rises from 360 to 420 K, with a corresponding activation energy of 0.51 eV. In contrast, in polycrystalline alumina processed by solid state sintering (grain diameters of 1.7, 2.7, and 4.5 μm) the degree of discharge increases continuously with temperature and grain size. The enhancement with grain size indicates that the sintering conditions influence strongly the efficiency of a gettering effect. The activation energy below 573 K is about 0.12 eV independently of grain size. Above 573 K, a second activation energy of 0.26 eV appears for the smallest grain size sample. The results suggest that discharge may stem from a density of trapping states, associated to grain boundaries in sintered samples, rather than from a single trapping level linked to the doping element as Ag in sapphire.