Theory of current characteristics of a thin dielectric film under slow electron impact

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Abstract
A relation between the current transmitted by a thin dielectric film as a function of incident electron energy and the electronic energy structure of the film is derived. These current characteristics have been measured by W. H. Hamill et al. For low energies, 1–4 eV, it is found that the current characteristics are insensitive to the detailed energy structure of the solid. In the moderately high energy range, 4–10 eV, the transmitted current is more sensitive to the energy levels of the solid, but the relation is not straightforward, involving a convolution of a joint density of states and a conduction band density of states. Analysis of the low energy region is shown to give values of parameters, such as energy resolution and energy zero, relevant to a detailed quantitative study of the data.