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More Than One Ever Wanted To Know About X-ray Detectors Part IX: Antigravity Holes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Mark W. Lund*
Affiliation:
MOXTEK, Inc.

Extract

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In this series we have explained why x-ray spectrometers are useful in electron microscopes and, to some extent, how they work. In this article I will discuss some of the physics behind the detector.

First I have been asked to explain what a hole is. In a silicon crystal every silicon atom is bound to four others with covalent bonds. Every electron has a home, which consists of its home atom in the case of the inner electrons. The four outer (or valence) electrons have a home on the road, shuttling back and forth between too atoms each. In this way the five atoms share eight electrons among themselves.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1995