ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF BACKSCATTERED ELECTRONS FROM HEAVY METALS

The full energy distribution of backscattered electrons from the elastic peak do wn to the true-secondary electron peak for heavy metals, Ta, W, Pt and Au, in Au ger electron spectroscopy in the EN(E) mode has been studied with a Monte Carlo simulation method, which includes cascade-secondary-electron production. The sim ulation model is based on the use of a dielectric function for describing inelas tic scattering and secondary excitation, and on the use of Mott cross sections f or elastic scattering. A systematic comparison between the calculated and experi mental spectra measured with a cylindrical mirror analyzer has been made for pri mary energies ranging from 1 to 5keV. Excellent agreement was obtained for these heavy metals on the backscattering background at primary energies in the keV re gion. A significant contribution of cascade secondary electrons to the measured spectra on the low-energy side was found.