INELASTIC ELECTRON INTERACTIONS IN THE ENERGY-RANGE 50 EV TO 10 KEV IN INSULATORS - ALKALI-HALIDES AND METAL-OXIDES

Calculations of electron inelastic mean free paths and stopping powers for several alkali halides (KF, KCl, KBr, and KI) and metal oxides (B eO, MgO, SiO2, and Al2O3) have been performed in the 50 eV to 10 keV e nergy range. The complex dielectric formalism, improved to include the energy gap, was used for estimating the valence part of the transport characteristics, whereas the part related to electron-core interactio ns was evaluated according to Gryzinski's theory. An extended comparis on of these calculations with the available experimental data as well as with other theoretical predictions is presented. Trends of the ener gy dependence of the inelastic mean free path and stopping power in al kali halides are studied. The role of the plasmon deexcitation process as a source for low-energy electrons in secondary electron emission s pectra is discussed. The presented data can be used in Monte-Carlo sim ulations of electron transport in the considered materials.