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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Electron beams can be used for processing materials both through thermal effects and through nonthermal, or chemical, effects. Although most interest for the last 10 years or more has been on nonthermal effects, there has recently been revived interest in electron beam heating. Such beams can be pulsed flood beams of large area (8 cm diameter), large current density (500 A cm−2) and electron energies of 5–30 keV. At the other extreme are focused cw beams of a few μm diameter and currents of about 50 μA which can be used for selective heating. There are also systems which generate ribbon beams which are effective for well controlled annealing of large areas.