Secondary-electron emission from multi-layer graphene: time-dependent first-principles study

The amount of secondary electrons (SEs) emitted from multi-layer graphene under electron impact was calculated using time-dependent density functional theory, and the dependence on the incident energy and number of layers was determined. The amount of SEs converges to a certain value with an increase in the number of layers, which is successfully interpreted as attenuation of the incident wave packet by scattering at each graphene layer. The present study enables direct evaluation of the amount of SEs emitted from bulk graphite and provides useful insight into the SE emission from surfaces covered with layered materials. (C) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics