Electron-beam charging of sapphire preirradiated by Arn+ clusters

Abstract Kinetics of sapphire single crystals charging under electron beam irradiation has been studied. The electron beam energy was 5 and 15 keV. The sapphire was preliminary irradiated with ArN+ cluster ions with the energy of 7–15 keV. The charging characteristics of virgin sapphire samples and those of the samples irradiated with atomic Ar+ and cluster ArN+ ions were compared. It was found that cluster ion preirradiation reduces the charging time of sapphire by almost two orders of magnitude. Possible explanations of the phenomenon are discussed.