Quantitative interpretation of EELS and REELS spectra

A critical analysis of the present day Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) data interpretation methods has been done. The necessity for the consideration of a target as a multilayered structure with different inelastic energy loss cross sections in the surface and the bulk layers has been shown to be a reality both for the transmission EELS and the reflection EELS (REELS). A method to reconstruct inelastic energy loss cross sections in various target layers from the experimental data has been presented. Essential qualitative and quantitative dependence of the path length distribution function for reflected electrons as a function of scattering angle has been revealed. The tested method for extraction of the information from REELS experiments with angular resolution has been presented.Received: 9 October 2003, Published online: 19 February 2004PACS: 34.80.-i Electron scattering - 34.50.Bw Energy loss and stopping power - 25.30.Fj Inelastic electron scattering to continuum