Influence of Radiation-Stimulated Discharges on Contamination of Cover Glasses of Solar Batteries of Space Vehicles

摘要

The changes in the structure of the surface of K-208 and CMG cover glasses after electron irradiation and the effect of the molecular fluxes investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) are presented. It is demonstrated that contamination of the surfaces of glasses irradiated with electrons at flux densities φ from 10~(10)to 8 × 10~(10)cm~(–2)s~(–1)occurs at electrostatic discharges accompanied by the release of plasmoids into the environment, the particles of which are deposited on the glass. It has been found experimentally that the effect of preliminary irradiation of the glass on the deposition of components of the molecular flow is the most effective just after the irradiation and decreases over time. This is due to the drain of the charge injected into the glass and decrease in the initially high reactive capacity of the substances of the discharge channels. It is also demonstrated that the combined effect of electrons and molecular flux on the glasses significantly increased the discharge frequency at a predetermined value of φ and, as a consequence, led to an increase in the number of the discharge channels on the surfaces of samples. To interpret the experimental results, a mathematical model of the deposition of molecular flow components on glass is proposed.