Abstract
The phenomenon of electromigration of atomic species during AES of glasses is discussed, and the induction time Ti, before any migration occurs, is defined theoretically for the two possible directions of migration. Experimental Auger peak shapes are shown to exhibit a growing asymmetry with irradiation time, in such a sense as to indicate the direction of the field present in the irradiated volume. The migration of sodium is hence found to be towards the surface, for ions originally with the analysed region.