Electron transport in solids for quantitative surface analysis

Abstract

AbstractThe influence of electron transport on the signal generation process in electron beam techniques is reviewed. A survey of the fundamental physical quantities for the electron–solid interaction is presented and sources for these quantities in the literature as well as semi‐empirical formulae are given. The theoretical approaches used to describe multiple scattering in solids are outlined. These include the partial intensity approach and the continuous slowing down approximation to describe multiple energy losses and the transport approximation to tackle multiple deflections. A detailed description of the Monte Carlo technique is presented because this constitutes an effective means to study transport processes. The different theoretical approaches are illustrated in a survey of applications. These include: quantitative description of the surface sensitivity in Auger and photoelectron spectroscopy; line shape analysis of electron spectra; extracting information on the compositional depth profile from the combined energy/angular distribution in an electron spectrum; quasi‐elastic electron reflection; inelastic electron backscattering; depth distribution of production of x‐rays caused by electron bombardment; and the surface sensitivity in total electron yield electron spectroscopy. These applications demonstrate that the outlined approaches have a broad field of application, not only for electrons with energies ranging from thermal to the relativistic energy range, but also for other microbeam analysis techniques. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.