Eur. Phys. J. D 48, 383-388 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2008-00121-4

Transmission of ∼10 keV electron beams through thin ceramic foils: Measurements and Monte Carlo simulations of electron energy distribution functions

¹ Physik Department E12, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany
² Coherent GmbH, Zielstattstrasse 32, 81379 München, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a andrei.morozov@ph.tum.de

Received: 18 March 2008
Revised: 9 May 2008
Published online: 13 June 2008

Abstract

Electron beams with particle energy of ~10 keV were sent through 300 nm thick ceramic (Si₃N₄ + SiO₂) foils and the resulting electron energy distribution functions were recorded using a retarding grid technique. The results are compared with Monte Carlo simulations performed with two publicly available packages, Geant4 and Casino v2.42. It is demonstrated that Geant4, unlike Casino, provides electron energy distribution functions very similar to the experimental distributions. Both simulation packages provide a quite precise average energy of transmitted electrons: we demonstrate that the maximum uncertainty of the calculated values of the average energy is 6% for Geant4 and 8% for Casino, taking into account all systematic uncertainties and the discrepancies in the experimental and simulated data.