The first observations of the Auger electron emission during ion bombardment of a solid target were published in 1965 (Snoek et al. 11) in the case of electron characteristics of projectiles particles and in 1967 (Hennequin et al. 12) in the case of electron characteristics of the target atoms. There are currently sixty publications on the subject, but foreign publications onlysince 1974, some authors have even incidenment rediscovered the phenomenon. The Auger emission in collisions in the gas phase was also the subject of numerous studies during the same period. The precise knowledge of the mechanical conditions of the collision and the existence of well-defined electronic states, both before and after excitation by Auger effect, greatly facilitate the interpretation of experiments. The theory of Fano and Lichten 1960 is now well established: some molecular orbitals formed during the collision. Two particles are promoted to levels less related and after interaction with incomplete orbital, can lead to the formation of a hole in the internal electronics either partner. More generally, what are the recent developments in the physics of collisions now possible to understand the whole mechanism of the Auger emission from solids. There is a natural relationship between the Auger electron-emission and the emission of secondary ions in the ion bombardment of a solid. This link is direct in the case of fast multiply charged ions or which are formed by Auger deexcitation, outside of the target atoms ejected from retaining an internal electronic hole: the model kinetic emission Joyes 1975. This is also the result of a suggestion Castaing, and to interpret the emission of secondary ions, the study of this relationship has been undertaken both experimentally and theoretically. The Auger emission also allows to achieve a better understanding of the most violent collisions inside the solid, and it is in this spirit that this work was done. Specifically, we sought to better determine the extent to which theoretical conclusions of the physics of collisions can be used to account for the experimental results relating to the Auger emission of solids and predict the influence of the nature of the target and the projectile on the characteristics of this emission. First a necessary theoretical background to allow interpretation of experimental results : we follow the steps leading to the emission of an Auger electron as a result of the impact of the primary ion on the atoms of the target: the creation a cascade of collisions in the solid, the excitation of an internal electronic level during a collision, Auger effect by the excitation during the migration of the excited particles and finally the output of an electron outside the target. Then the description of the properties of experimental devices we have developped for this study. Then, in the next two chapters, we will study the collisions responsible for the emission Auger electrons is characteristic of the projectile or target. In the first case (Section III), we will focus mainly on the emission of Auger electrons of argon during the bombardment of various targets by Ar ion, energy between 2 and 16 keV, and can thus show good agreement between experiments on solids and theoretical interpretations based on atomic collisions and the promotion of molecular orbitals. Once established this agreement, it will be possible (Chapter IV) to extend this interpretation to the Auger electron emission characteristics of the target, where the situation is complicated by the fact that the collision energy is poorly determined and doubt that may remain on the nature of the collision responsible for the excitement: symmetrical collision between two identical atoms of the target or asymmetric collision between the incident ion and one of the atoms of the target. In the case of light metals, magnesium and aluminum, we show that the proportion of asymmetric collisions is an increasing function of the energy of the incident ions, but remains low in our energy field (2 - 16 keV). The results presented here have mostly been published previously.
