When an electron passes through matter, the energy of the electron is transferred to the material in the form of ionizations and excitations. Almost all of this transfer is the result of the Coulomb interaction of the beam electrons with the electrons in the specimen; that is, scattering of beam electrons by nuclei is not an important energy-transfer process.

On average, about 30 eV is transferred for each ion pair (the electron and the parent atom) produced, and most of the energy transferred goes into primary or secondary ionizations. In a typical energy-loss process, an electron can be removed from an inner shell (it can leave the atom with a velocity comparable to that of the incident electron).