The aim of the present paper is the analysis of the backward secondary electron emission phenomenon, under electron bombardment, on the basis of experimental and theoretical results. Among the theoretical models, we will mention the phenomenological models, those which use a Monte-Carlo type simulation method, and those based on the numerically solved Boltzmann transport equation.
To correlate experimental and theoretical results on all the data characterizing this phenomenon, it is necessary to use an appropriate description for the excitation process of the internal secondary electrons; it also needs a complete description of the transport process for the excited electrons, which incorporates the elastic and inelastic interactions, as well as the energy and angular distribution of the incident primary beam.
From this, it follows that it will be necessary, either to use a direct Monte-Carlo simulation method, or, in the case of the transport model, to carry out a preliminary treatment of the primary electron dispersion; this treatment is also based upon a Boltzmann equation resolution.
The results of such an analysis will be useful in electron microscopy and in quantitative Auger spectroscopy