MULTIPLE-SCATTERING CONTRIBUTIONS AND DEFINING THE BACKGROUND FOR RESOLUTION ENHANCEMENT IN HREELS

We examine the consequences of multiple scattering in HREELS and propo se a new approach to defining the background for the purpose of resolu tion enhancement when the contribution of broad, continuum excitations interferes with discrete features of interest, e.g. adsorbate feature s. The method, which should be generally applicable to metals, oxides and semiconductors, is based on the Fourier-log deconvolution procedur e for removing the Poisson distribution of multiple losses. The effect s of noise and variation in instrumental sensitivity and transmission functions are considered. Statistical testing of the performance of cu rrently available Bayesian resolution enhancement codes has been evalu ated with synthetic spectra.