Angle-scanned photoelectron diffraction

• Published in: Surface science 1995-07, Vol.331, p.1002-1014
• Main Authors: Osterwalder, J., Aebi, P., Fasel, R., Naumovic, D., Schwaller, P., Kreutz, T., Schlapbach, L., Abukawa, T., Kono, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Electron diffraction and scattering; Exact sciences and technology; Photoelectron diffraction; Physics; Solid surfaces and solid-solid interfaces; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Surface structure; Surface structure and topography; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
• ISSN: 0039-6028; 1879-2758
• DOI: 10.1016/0039-6028(95)00076-3

A brief survey is given on the current state-of-the-art of this surface structural technique based on photoelectron spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on the progress that has been made recently by routinely measuring full-hemispherical intensity distributions. We limit the discussion to the photoelectron forward focusing regime, which is attained at electron kinetic energies of a few hundred eV. Surface bond directions are directly revealed as pronounced maxima in the angular distributions from subsurface atoms, while characteristic interference features are observed for surface species. For both cases the dependence on the atomic type is weak enough so that these features provide a fingerprint of the local bonding geometry. For surface and near-surface species, this may then serve as a starting point for a structure refinement using single-scattering cluster calculations. Selected examples are given for illustrating these procedures.