Silicon detector for low-energy electron spectroscopy

A novel silicon surface barrier detector has been constructed for low-energy electron spectroscopy. This detector consists of a high-resistance silicon wafer which is sandwiched between a rectifying barrier front and ohmic back contacts. The front electrode is a gold mesh metallization with an effective area of 8% of the detector surface. This electrode allows most of the electrons to reach the active region of the detector with the smallest possible degradation in their energy distribution due to electron straggling in the front electrode.