Evidence of an enhanced diffusion process in electron-irradiated glasses: a critical analysis of available experimental and theoretical results

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Abstract
Previously reported experimental results on the Na Auger signal decay that occurs during electron irradiation of soda-silica glasses, at liquid nitrogen temperature, have been interpreted on the basis of a numerical integration of the continuity equation for the ordinary and field-assisted diffusion processes. In this context, it is shown that the diffusion process of Na is stimulated by the electron irradiation. It is suggested that the diffusion process is enhanced by oxygen- and sodium-ion pairs being created by bond breaking when electrons strike soda-silica glasses. This phenomenon occurs not only at the surface, as some previous work has suggested, but also in the bulk. Moreover, some critical remarks about previous theoretical models concerned with the incubation time, during which the Auger signal remains constant, are also reported.

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