ELECTRON-DIFFRACTION AT STEPPED HOMOGENEOUS AND INHOMOGENEOUS SURFACES

Defect analysis at surfaces with LEED or RHEED have so far been essentially restricted to steps or superstructure domains. Even if there are no superstructures, variations of the scattering factor influence the spot profile. With the now available high-resolution instruments more details of the spot profile may be observed. Therefore it will be discussed how a careful study of the spot profile at different energies may be used to analyze a surface with simultaneous steps and inhomogeneities. It will be shown how the asperity height is obtained without fitting parameters and how inhomogeneities are analyzed with respect to coverage and size distribution. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.