Retarding field analyser used in elastic peak electron spectroscopy

The percentage, eta(e), of electrons elastically reflected by a substrate is a fundamental parameter for elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES). A Retarding Field Analyser with ifs large acceptance angle can be used for this spectroscopy. However, distortion is observed in the low energy side of the recorded elastic peak, increasing with the energy of the impinging electrons, which introduces difficulty for eta(e) measurement. To eliminate this difficulty, we propose in this paper a method to obtain eta(e) using a reference curve. The process is applied to the study of the Ag/Mo system, as well as experimental determination of the mean free path of electrons in indium samples. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.