Gerasimos Armatas

Electron Scattering and Diffraction

Electron scattering
Electron beam
Secondary electrons
Particle nature or electrons Backscattered from the specimen
electrons
 elastic (no loss of energy)
 inelastic (loss of energy)
Thin specimen

Wave nature or electrons Coherent elastic Incoherent elastic

 coherent (in phase) scattered electrons Incoherent inelastic
scattered electrons
 Incoherent (out of phase)
Direct beam

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Electron interaction with an atom

(a) Elastic scattering

(imaging and diffraction)

(b,c) Inelastic scattering

(spectroscopy)

http://www.matter.org.uk/tem/default.htm 3
Electron scattering
Elastic scattering usually…
 is coherent (thin specimen)
 occurs at relative low angles (1-10o)
 at high angles (>10o) become more incoherent

Inelastic scattering …
 is almost always incoherent
 occurs at low angles (<1o)
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Scattering process
 Single scattering

Forward scattered
Electron beam electrons

 Plural scattering and multiple (scattered > 20 times)

scattering Forward scattered
electrons
Electron beam

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Scattering process
 Generally, plural or multiple scattering events increase
the angle of scatter
 In plural or multiple scattering is very difficult to
predict what will happen to the electron and, thus, to
interpret the information (images, diffraction patterns
and spectra)
 In thin specimens is reasonable to assume single
scattering

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The cross-section (σ)

1 m2
P=9/10, σ=0.9 m2

P=1/10, σ=0.1 m2

glass window

 cross section does not represent a physical area

 cross section / area of window = probability
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 Scattering cross-section (σ)
 The probability of scattering (elastic and inelastic) can be specified
by the respective cross-section
 When electron beam with intensity I=N/S
(N is the number of electrons per surface
area S per second) impinge a target, the
cross section dσ for electrons scattering
into a solid angle dΩ is defined as:

d
dσ  dΩ
dΩ
 Where I·│dσ/dΩ│ is the electron density
per solid angle

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The differential cross-section
The differential cross section dσ/dΩ describes the angular
distribution of scattering
dσ Scattered flux/Unit solid angle

dΩ Incident flux/Unit surface

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 The scattering cross section
 The total scattering cross section of an atom:
 T   elastic   inelastic
 Effective radius of the scattering center
In 100-keV electrons
Ze
σ  πr 2
relastic  σelestic ≈ 10-22 m2
σinelestic ≈ 10-26 m2
Vθ
 In specimen contains N atoms/unit volume and thickness t
Avogadro’s number (atoms/mole)
total cross section for scattering (m-1)
density (g/m3)
N 0σ Tρt
probability for QTt   Nσ Tt  10
scattering A
atomic weight (g/mole)
 Mean free path
“The average distance that the electron travels between
scattering”
t Forward scattered
electrons
Electron beam λ1 λ2 λn
  (1  2  ...  n ) n
1 A
λ 
QT N 0σ Tρ
 Probability for scattering:
Typical values of λ are of
thickness
order of tens nm
t N 0σ T (ρt )
p  p decreases as σT, thus, Eo increases! 11
λ A
Affecting scattering
 The cross section (σ) decreases as the angle of scattering
(θ) and/or the electron energy (accelerating voltage, V)
increases
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 Ze 
σ elastic  π  r 2
elastic  π 
 Vθ 
most of the scattered electrons are within ±5o,
in 300-400 kV TEM less electrons are scattered

 The cross section increases as the atomic number (Z) of

the specimen increases (especially in elastic scattering)
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Particle-wave duality of electrons
Electrons are particles
 They have scattering cross-section
 They can be scattered
 They can interact with the nucleus through Coulomb
forces

Electrons are waves

 They can be diffracted by atoms
 The intensity of the wave scattering determined by the
atomic scattering amplitude
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X-ray vs. Electron scattering
X-rays are…
 scattered by the electron cloud
 It is a field-to-field exchange

Electrons are…
 scattered by the electrons and nuclei
 interact with the local electromagnetic field of the atoms

The electrons are scattered much more strongly than X-rays

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Elastic scattering
Electron cloud

Nucleus

θ θ

 Coulombic interaction within the electron cloud results in

low-angle scattering
 Coulombic attraction by the nucleus results in high-angle
scattering (even backscattering)
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Elastic scattering from an atom
Z
 Electron-electron cross section
2
 e 
σ e e  πre  π
2

 Vθ 
 Nucleus-electron cross section
2
 Ze 
σ en  πrn  π
2

 Vθ 
V

σelastic=f(Z,V,θ)
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Bragg law

B’

AB + BC = n λ => 2 d sinθ = n λ
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Inelastic scattering
Characteristic X-ray
 Produced when E0≥Ec
 The critical energy Ec increases
as the Z of atom increases
 The innermost shells have a
higher Ec (K>L>M … )

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Inelastic scattering
Auger electrons
 Electrons from the outer-shell of
atoms are ejected
 The energy of the Auger electron
given by: Excitation energy –
Binding energy
 The Auger emission is a surface
phenomenon

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Inelastic scattering
Bremsstrahlung X-rays (breaking radiation)
 Produced by the electrons deceleration when
deflected in the Coulomb field of the nucleus

Characteristic X-rays

Beam energy

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 Cathodoluminescence
 The electron beam interacts with
the valence band
 An electron is exited from the VB
to the CB, across the band gap
 Upon recombination of hole-
electron pair a photon of light is
emitted
 The energy of light determined
by the band gap

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Inelastic scattering
Secondary electrons
 Slow secondary electrons, are ejected from the
conduction or valence band (E<50 eV)
They are useful in SEM and STEM mode

 Fast secondary electrons, are ejected from the

inner-shells (E ≈ ½ E0)
They can cause problems in chemical
microanalysis
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Inelastic scattering
Plasmons are…
 collective oscillations of free
electrons into the specimen,
and
 produced when the electron
beam passes through the free
electron ‘gas’
 ΔE~5-30 eV, λ~200-600 nm

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Inelastic scattering
Phonons are..
 collectively oscillations of atoms
in specimen
 are analogous to thermal
vibration of atoms into the lattice
 account for the diffuses
‘background’ scattering
 ΔE<1 eV, λ ~ 1-4 μm

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Beam damage
 The damage affects the structure and the chemistry
of the specimen
 The damage depends mainly on the beam energy
(electron dose C/m2 or e/nm2)

For example,
 Ceramic particles may be heated up to 1700 oC by
the electron beam
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Beam damage
Damage occurs via:
 Radiolysis: the electron-electron
interactions break the chemical bonds
 Knock-on damage and sputtering:
displacement of an atom from the crystal
lattice (point defects)

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Beam damage
Minimizing beam damage by
 Reducing the cross-section of inelastic scattering
(operate at the highest voltage!)
 Cooling the specimen (with LN2)
 Coating the specimen with conductive film

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