[en] Highlights: • Electron emission upon Ar⁺ surface impact was studied with sub-mm spatial resolution. • The current density and energy of Ar⁺ is comparable to DC magnetron sputtering. • The influence of the grain orientation and surface contaminations was studied. • Crystal orientation has no influence on the ion induced electron emission yield. The ion induced electron emission yield upon Ar⁺ ion impact at 420 eV was measured for a stainless-steel sample that was partially covered with a 50 nm thick gold layer. The ion induced electron emission yield for the two target materials differs strongly and enables to reproduce the shape of the gold film with a spatial resolution that corresponds to the width of the ion beam, which is 240 µm in the present case. Details in the two-dimensional map of the ion induced electron emission yield are explained by comparison with optical and scanning electron microscopy as well as with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of the sample surface. In contrast to the sputtering efficiency, the ion induced electron emission yield does not depend on the orientation of the crystal structure.