Mirror Electron Microscope-Low Energy Electron Diffraction for Studies of Surface Ordering and Melting

Abstract

ABSTRACTMirror Electron Microscopy – Low Energy Electron Diffraction (MEMLEED) combines a LEED with MEM in a single simple instrument for studies of surface processes such as phase transitions and premelting under ultra-high vacuum (uhv) conditions. In MEMLEED, 5–20 keV primary electrons are decelerated by an electrostatic mirror-objective lens in which the sample is the mirror element. In the MEN mode, electrons are reflected just above the surface, reaccelerated through the objective lens and imaged. Contrast is due to variations in both surface potential and topography. Current uhv instruments have lateral resolution of about 1 μm. In the LEED mode, 0-100 eV electrons strike the sample at near normal incidence. Diffracted electrons are accelerated through the objective lens. Beam spacings in the imaged diffraction pattern are proportional to k11 and beams do not move as the incident energy is varied. MEMLEED has intrinsically higher transfer width and is less sensitive to magnetic fields near the sample than conventional LEED. Design considerations for uhv instruments are discussed. Applications to the study of order-disorder transitions, premelting phenomena, and to measurements of changes in surface potential are described.