Surface microanalysis by reflection electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

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