FIELD-EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY

The first experimental evidence of the existence of electron states lo calised on a clean metal surface was available to us since 1967 in the form of the well known Swanson-Crouser hump in the energy distributio n of electrons field-emitted from the W(100) plane, although it took s ome time before its interpretation as such, in 1976, was established b eyond any doubt. Subsequently, angle-resolved photoemission proved to be a more competitive method for the investigation of surface states o f metals and semiconductors. However, field emission remains a useful tool in surface physics research. After a brief introduction to field emission spectroscopy, we review recent work which shows the potential ity of this technique in the investigation of the surface properties o f semiconductors, ferromagnetic metals, thermal superconductors, and o f the electronic structure of supported clusters.