Electron energy-loss spectroscopy of alkali-metal-covered Ge(111) surfaces

Electron energy-loss spectra of a Ge(111) surface covered with Na, K or Cs in the submonolayer range have been measured. The presence of alkali metal (a.m.) causes the empty dangling-bond surface states to vanish and results in the creation of new interface states. The filling of the latter is a decreasing function of the ionicity of the a.m.—Ge bond.It was found that the energy shift of transitions involving a.m. s resonance as the final state is a linear function of a.m. coverage.     

Electron energy-loss spectra of clean and gas-covered Ni(100) surfaces

Electron energy-loss spectra have been measured on Ni(100) surfaces, clean and following oxygen and carbon monoxide adsorption, at primary energies of 40–300 eV. The observed peaks at 9.1, 14 and 19 eV in the clean-surface spectrum are ascribed to the bulk plasmon of the 4s electrons, the surface plasmon, and the bulk plasmon of the coupled 3d + 4s electron, respectively, and the weak but sharp peak at 33 eV is tentatively attributed to the localized many-body effect in the final state. Assignments of the loss structures on the gas-covered surfaces have been attempted.     

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy from polar ZnO surfaces

Reflection electron energy-loss spectra (ELS) in the 2–30-eV range were obtained from ZnO ($000\overline{1}$)O and (0001)Zn faces. Measurements were performed on atomically clean surfaces and on surfaces subjected to different treatments, including exposures to atomic hydrogen and molecular oxygen. The spectra were compared with ELS, UPS, XPS and UV reflection results obtained by other investigators. An identification of the observed electronic transitions is attempted.     

Electron energy-loss spectra of clean and hydrogen-covered Cr(110) surfaces

Electron energy-loss spectra of clean and hydrogen-covered Cr(110) surfaces have been investigated in the spectral range of 0–80 eV for primary energies of 60–500 eV. The observed peaks for the clean surface are at the loss energies of 2, 3.5, 5.5, 9.6, 23, 35, 42, 48 and 55 eV. The 3p-excitation spectra for high primary energies (> 250 eV) are in good agreement with the corresponding optical spectrum. The edge at & 42 eV observed for low primary energies is tentatively attributed to the onset of the transition from the 3p subshell to the local 4s-band in the vicinity of the core hole. A characteristic energy-loss at ≈ 15.5 eV is observed after hydrogen adsorption. The 3p-spectrum is not influenced by hydrogen adsorption, indicating that the excitation is of a localized character.     

High-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy at epitaxially grown GaAs(100)

High-Resolution Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (HREELS) is shown to be a very sensitive tool to investigate the space-charge regime of n-respectively p-type semiconductors. The most simple model we applied to fit experimental spectra is based on a step-like distribution of free carriers with the Drude dielectric response function. In this case, the dispersion of surface plasmon excitations is neglected, but it is considered in the Thomas-Fermi and the Debye-Hückel models. We use these models to fit HREELS-spectra, obtained from heavily Si-doped GaAs(100), which was grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). A comparison shown that the Drude model overestimates both the free-carrier concentration and the plasmon damping factor. The use of a more realistic smooth free-carrier profile, obtained by the self-consistent solution of the Schrödinger and Poisson equations, leads to plasmon excitations with lower frequencies. Besides Ohmic damping, the calculations show that Landau damping should be incorporated in order to obtain a better fit, particularly at intermediate frequencies.     

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy applied to solids

Several illustrating examples of recent electron energy-loss investigations of the electronic structure of solids are reviewed. In particular, studies on rare-gas bubbles in metals, on conducting polymers, and onL _2,3 edges of 3d transition metals are reported. Moreover, the electron energy-loss spectrometer, which was used for these investigations, is described briefly.     

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy study of oxygen chemisorption and initial oxidation of Fe(110)

The initial stages of the interaction of oxygen with an Fe(110) surface have been studied at 300 K by electron energy-loss spectroscopy with in-situ combined low energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy and work-function change measurement. From all the results, four different stages of the oxygen interaction are distinguished: (I) a first dissociative chemisorption up to 3 L, characterized by the c(2×2)-O structure, (II) a second dissociative chemisorption between 3 and 7 L, characterized by the c(3×1)-O structure, (III) incorporation of O adatoms into the selvage between 7 and 30 L, and (IV) oxidation above 30 L leading to the formation of FeO(111), characterized by the diffuse hexagonal diffraction pattern. The sticking probability was found to be initially near unity and fall off rapidly to a minimum value of ≈0.05 at ≈1 L. Particular emphasis was placed upon the investigation of the change in surface electronic properties from those characteristic of them metal to those of the oxide. In stage (I) an energy-loss peak, being attributed to the transition from the 2p orbital of the chemisorbed oxygen, was observed at 6.0 eV, while in stage (II) two additional peaks of the same origin appeared at 7.5 and 9.3 eV due to the formation of the O 2p band. The energy-loss spectrum in the oxide phase was characterized by the peaks at 4.8 and 7.5 eV due to the O²⁻ 2p → Fe²⁺3d charge-transfer transitions and by a peak at 2.4 eV due to the ligand-field d → d transitions of an Fe²⁺ ion in FeO. It is shown that the Fe 3d_yz,zx and 4sp electrons play a major role in the chemisorption bond (O adatoms located in the long-bridge site), and that for the incorporation process the Fe 3d_y² electrons are also involved in bonding by the symmetry breaking. The change in the Fe 3p-excitation spectrum during oxidation was also investigated. The differences between the experimental results on Fe(100) and (110) surfaces are summarized.     

Metastable (2S) helium atom scattering from NiO(100) and Cu(100) surfaces

The scattering of metastable 2³S He atoms (He*) from cleaved NiO(100) as well as from clean and CO-covered Cu(100) surfaces has been studied. For these varied surfaces, which were characterized in situ by ground state He atom scattering, only broad He* angular distributions without any diffraction peaks were observed. For metastable He atoms scattered from the clean Cu(100) surface a total survival probability of 1×10⁻⁶ was determined. For NiO(100) and the CO-covered Cu(100) surface values of about 1×10⁻⁵ were obtained. Time-of-flight spectra of the surviving He* atoms revealed a substantial energetic broadening which increases with the substrate temperature. This behaviour indicates a large well depth for the He*–surface interaction potential and is discussed in terms of an enhanced multiphonon excitation and/or trapping probability upon the scattering.     

Electron stimulated desorption of neutral species from (100) KCl surfaces

Composition changes of a (100) KCl surface bombarded by 1 keV electrons have been studied by Auger electron spectroscopy. Intensity ratios of characteristic alkali and halogen Auger lines were monitored as a function of target temperature and beam current density. In addition, for the first time angle-resolved energy distributions of electron desorbed K and Cl atoms were measured using mass-analyzed time of flight techniques. For temperatures higher than about 100°C, a near-stoichiometric surface composition was obtained and a significant non-thermal component was observed in the kinetic energy distributions of Cl atoms emitted normal to the (100) surface. These results can be interpreted in terms of new concepts regarding the excitonic mechanism of electron stimulated desorption (ESD).     

Electron energy loss spectroscopy of sodium covered Ge(111) surfaces

The ELS spectra of sodium covered Ge(111) surfaces are studied. It was found that sodium coverage upto 1 ML leads to a extinction of the ELS features of the clean Ge surface. With increasing sodium coverage a metal induced peak at 3.4 eV and a peak at 31.6 eV due to a sodium 2p-core level transitions appear. ELS spectra of a heat-treated surface covered with sodium imply a formation of a surface Na-Ge “compound” as a result of Na-Ge interdiffusion.     

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy of NO,O2 and NH3 on Si (1 1 1) surfaces

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy has been applied to the study of Si (1 1 1) surfaces covered with NO and NH₃. It is proposed that these gases are absorbed in molecular states at room temperature. The similarity of the loss spectra for NO and O₂ strongly favors with our recent proposal that O₂ is adsorbed as molecules at the initial stage of the oxidation.     

Scandium and lutetium surfaces studied by reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy

The reflection electron energy-loss spectra of the (1 0 0) and (0 0 1) surfaces of Sc single crystals and the (0 0 1) surface of a Lu single crystal have been studied with primary energies in the range 50–2000 eV. Scandium is congeneric with lutetium and the loss spectra of the two elements are very similar in both the collective excitations and the interband transitions. Strong excitations observed at around 41 eV are attributed to 3p → 3d and 5p → 5d transitions in Sc and Lu, respectively. The loss data of Sc fit the characteristic energy-loss data of the other elements of the first group of transition metals. Oxygen adsorption and nitrogen adsorption on the (1 0 0) surface of Sc influence the loss spectra. The observed differences are correlated with density-of-states calculations for Sc, ScO and ScN.     

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy of anomalous plutonium behavior in nuclear waste materials

Plutonium-enriched layer has been observed in corroded spent uranium oxide fuel (CSNF). These Pu-enriched regions were examined with analytical transmission electron microscopy combined with electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). The enriched region also contained U, Am, Ru, Zr, but only minor enrichment of rare earth elements. The Pu, possibly as Pu(V) according to EELS measurements, was dispersed within re-precipitated uranium oxide (identified as U3O8) nano-crystals between U(VI) secondary phases and the CSNF surface. The U, Pu, and Am enrichment was observed in the corrosion products with tests on different nuclear fuels. This may have implications for the long-term behavior of CSNF under storage in a geologic waste repository. Furthermore, there may be an increased potential for the generation of Pu-bearing colloids from this type of weathered CSNF.     

Electron loss spectroscopy of clean and oxygen covered GaAs(110) surfaces

Electron energy loss spectra of clean and oxygen covered GaAs(110) surfaces have been measured with a four grid retarding field analyser. Loss spectra of clean cleaved p- and n-type surfaces are slightly different and different states of adsorption for the oxygen on the two surfaces are found. The loss peaks which are common in the spectra obtained from clean surfaces of both types of material have been interpreted in terms of bulk and surface excitations. The data associated with the bulk excitations are in good agreement with previous optical and electron transmission data while loss peaks at 11.5 and 18.5 eV are interpreted as the surface plasma loss and a surface state transition respectively. For n-type material extra loss peaks were observed. In the case of oxygen adsorption on these surfaces new loss peaks were found at 13.5, 17.2 and 28.1 eV in both spectra and are assumed to be characteristic of the oxygen. Further, for n-type material an extra peak occurs at 8.2 eV.