PRACTICAL CORRECTION FORMULA FOR ELASTIC ELECTRON-SCATTERING EFFECTS IN ATTENUATION OF AUGER ELECTRONS AND PHOTOELECTRONS

We define a new parameter to describe the effects of elastic electron scattering in XPS and AES, The parameter is the ratio of emitted inten sity from a layer of atoms located at a given depth in a solid calcula ted from theories that take into account and neglect elastic electron scattering, We have found that the correction parameter can be express ed by a simple formula, This formula is of general validity for typica l experimental geometries applied in practical XPS and AES, The formul a was determined by fitting an analytical expression to the results of extensive Monte Carlo calculations made under variation in the full r elevant range of electron energy, matrix atomic number, depth of origi n of emitted electrons and angular emission anisotropy, The formula de pends on the inelastic (lambda(i)) and the transport (lambda(tr)) mean free path for electron scattering, Three assumptions were made in the calculations, namely that the geometry is close to normal emission, t hat the angle between x-ray source and analyser axis is close to the m agic angle (54 degrees) and that the ratio lambda(tr)/lambda(i) is app roximately constant over the analysed depth, However, the result is ex pected to vary only slightly when these assumptions are not strictly f ulfilled. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.