Influence of elastic-scattering processes on an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy signal: Effect of the underlying surface

The boundary-value problem for the transfer equation with internal sources and without them is solved using the invariant embedding method. The influence of processes of photoelectron elastic scattering on the energy spectra of photoelectron emission is analyzed. The focus of attention is on the analysis of variations in the intensity and the spectral composition of the ascending flow of the photoelectron emission of a layer when underlying layers with different compositions appear. The physical fundamentals of the influence of elastic scattering on the formation of X-ray photoelectron spectra are demonstrated. The peak intensities for homogeneous Au 4s _1/2 and Si 2s _1/2 targets are calculated with and without the inclusion of reflection processes. The error appearing as a result of neglecting elastic scattering processes, which transform the descending motion into ascending type, is determined.