Effective energy loss function of silver derived from reflection electron energy loss spectra

Abstract

AbstractThe electron inelastic scattering in silver is studied both experimentally and theoretically. The reflection electron energy loss spectroscopy (REELS) spectra were measured using the ESA‐31. It is shown that the surface excitation is enhanced with decreasing primary energy. For the higher resolution spectra with the narrower energy distribution of elastically scattered electrons, the Tougaard's recursive formula describes inelastic scattering cross section from the measured energy loss spectrum as well as the extended Landau approach. At low primary energies, the differential inverse inelastic mean free path (DIIMFP) for low loss energies extracted by Tougaard's recursive method is smaller than that by the extended Landau approach. The latter method is better for measured REELS spectra with a large full width at half maximum (FWHM) of elastic peak (e.g. for a CMA). The effective energy loss function (EELF) has been derived from these experiments based on the extended Landau approach. The Monte Carlo simulated REELS spectra with the derived EELF agree well with the experimental spectra. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.