The stability of trapped charges in sapphires and alumina ceramics is characterized via an experimental parameter expressing the variation of the secondary electron emission yield between two electron injections performed in a scanning electron microscope. Two types of sapphires and polycrystalline alumina, which differ mainly by their impurity content, are investigated in the temperature range 300–663K. The stable trapping behavior in sapphires is attributed to trapping in different defects, whose nature depends on the purity level. In alumina ceramics, the ability to trap charges in a stable way is stronger in samples of high impurity content. In the low impurity samples, stable trapping is promoted when the grain diameter decreases, whereas the reverse is observed in high impurity materials. These behaviors can stem from a gettering effect occurring during sintering. The strong dependence of the variation of the secondary electron emission yield on the grain diameter and impurities enables a scaling of the stable trapping ability of alumina materials.

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Transmission electron microscopy study of platinum clusters on Al 2 O 3 /NiAl(110) under the influence of electron irradiationThe fraction R of charges undergoing discharge during the time separating two electron pulses is derived from the induced current method developed in a scanning electron microscope. Irradiation is performed via a 10 keV defocused electron beam and low current density. The evolution of R with temperature ͑in the range 300-663 K͒ obeys to an Arrhenius type relation. Activation energies connected with the processes involved are deduced. In sapphire, no discernible discharge is observed due to the dominance of deep traps. In silver doped sapphire, R increases sharply from 10% to 70% as the temperature rises from 360 to 420 K, with a corresponding activation energy of 0.51 eV. In contrast, in polycrystalline alumina processed by solid state sintering ͑grain diameters of 1.7, 2.7, and 4.5 m͒ the degree of discharge increases continuously with temperature and grain size. The enhancement with grain size indicates that the sintering conditions influence strongly the efficiency of a gettering effect. The activation energy below 573 K is about 0.12 eV independently of grain size. Above 573 K, a second activation energy of 0.26 eV appears for the smallest grain size sample. The results suggest that discharge may stem from a density of trapping states, associated to grain boundaries in sintered samples, rather than from a single trapping level linked to the doping element as Ag in sapphire.