Relative intensities in X-ray photoelectron spectra: Part VII. The effect of elastic scattering in a solid on the angular distribution of photoelectrons escaping from samples covered with thin films of various thicknesses

The angular distributions of X-ray photoelectron peak intensity for (1) a semi-infinite sample, (2) a substrate sample covered with a film, and (3) an overlayer sample are calculated by the Monte-Carlo method. The elastic as well as the inelastic scattering of electrons in a solid is taken into account. In all cases the elastic scattering is shown to have a significant effect on both the absolute value of peak intensity and the angular distribution of photoelectrons. The electron mean free paths without inelastic collisions (λ_n) calculated using formulas derived without taking account of elastic scattering are shown to differ significantly from the real values. Moreover, the λ_n values calculated in this way are not physical constants at all, but depend for example on the film thickness and the intervals of photoelectron take-off angles under consideration. The elastic scattering effect is shown capable of explaining some difficulties which arise in the interpretation of experimental data reported in the literature on the basis of expressions derived taking into account only the inelastic interactions of photoelectrons with a solid.