Surface microanalysis by reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Several basic physical concepts of applying eq. I_k = IσN^xt to surface microanalysis by reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy (REELS) are clarified. Here I^k and I are the integrated intensities of the core ionization edge and the low loss part, σ is the scattering cross section of element x with atomic concentration N^x, and t is the specimen thickness. The reflected inelastic electrons are found to be distributed almost symmetrically around the Bragg sports and can be reasonably described by a Lorentzian function. EELS microanalysis can be performed by using the diffracted sports. The ω correction, arising from the angular contributions of the neighbouring spots into the spectrometer collecting aperture, is required to be considered.