Evolution of Secondary Electron Emission Characteristics of Spacecraft Surfaces: Importance to Spacecraft Charging

Authors

Robert Davies, Utah State UniversityFollow
John R. Dennison, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Proceedings of the 6th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference

Publication Date

9-1-2000

First Page

67

Last Page

68

Abstract

A sample of oxidized aluminum was placed inside an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber alongside a piece of PTFE (Teflon®) coated wire and continuously bombarded with 1-3 keV electrons for ~30 hours. The SE yield of the surface was monitored as a function of time throughout the electron bombardment. Oxidized aluminum was chosen as a typical material comprising spacecraft surfaces, while outgassing of the Teflon wire contaminated the UHV environment, simulating the microenvironment surrounding an operating spacecraft. Continuous electron bombardment resulted in two effects—( i) the removal of the oxide layer, and (ii) the deposition of a thin (~1 nm-thick) layer of carbon contamination—duplicating the surface effects of other processes known to occur in Earth orbit.

Comments

http://dev.spis.org/projects/spine/home/tools/sctc/VIth/78bea5dac0a80014004c525e6036a9e1

Published in Proceedings of the 6th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference.

Authors' PDF available for download.

Recommended Citation

R.E. Davies and J.R. Dennison, “Evolution of Secondary Electron Emission Characteristics of Spacecraft Surfaces:Importance to Spacecraft Charging,” Proceedings of the 6th Spacecraft Charging Technology Conference, (Air ForceResearch Laboratory Science Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, MA, 2000).