ELECTRON STANDING WAVES AT A SURFACE DURING REFLECTION HIGH ENERGY ELECTRON DIFFRACTION AND APPLICATION TO STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Abstract

During observation of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), the interference between the incident and diffracted beams leads to the formation of surface electron standing waves. Characteristic X-ray emission is strongly excited if the atom exists in a strong wave field. Therefore, X-ray yields depends on the position of the atom and incident glancing angle (θg) of the electron beam, since the distribution of these waves changes with θg. Such anomalous intensities of X-ray emission are clearly observed under both Bragg and surface wave resonance conditions. By using these intensities, the height and adsorption site of surface adatoms can be analyzed. In this review, surface electron channeling and its application to surface structure analysis are discussed.