| A high resolution UHV electron spectrometer, incorporating a recently developed energy-selective mapping capability, has been used to analyse the emission images of localized sites on the surface of copper electrodes. The present paper outlines the operational principale of this new technique and reports on the spatially-resolved, electron energy spectral data recently obtained with it. These findings are shown to broadly confirm the existence of a field-induced hot-electron emission mechanism FIHEE that originates at MIM (metal-insulator-metal) surface microstructures and is responsible for the prebreakdown currents that flow between vacuum-insulated high-voltage electrodes in the field range 6-30MV/m. |
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