The secondary electron yield of noble metal surfaces

Secondary electron yield (SEY) curves in the 0-1000 eV range were measured on polycrystalline Ag, Au and Cu samples. The metals were examined as introduced in the ultra-high vacuum chamber and after having been cleaned by Ar+ ion sputtering. The comparison between the curves measured on the clean samples and in the presence of contaminants, due to the permanence in atmosphere, confirmed that the SEY behavior is strongly influenced by the chemical state of the metal surface. We show that when using very slow primary electrons the sample work function can be determined with high accuracy from the SEY curves. Moreover we prove that SEY is highly sensitive to the presence of adsorbates even at submonolayer coverage. Results showing the effect of small quantities of CO adsorbed on copper are presented. Our findings demonstrate that SEY, besides being an indispensable mean to qualify technical materials in many technological fields, can be also used as a flexible and advantageous diagnostics to probe surfaces and interfaces.