The determination of electron inelastic mean free path using evaporated films

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Abstract
Monte Carlo simulations of the growth of evaporated films have been carried out under various assumptions affecting the type of growth. The corresponding curves of Auger signal from the film as a function of deposition time have been analyzed to extract values for the electron inelastic mean free path λ. A smoothness parameter C defined as the fraction of the substrate covered after the deposition of 1 monolayer equivalent of atoms, is used to characterize the degree to which growth is layer by layer, i.e., one layer is complete before the next one begins. It has been found that values of λ correct to within 10% can be obtained for values of C as low as 0.85; below C values of 0.85 the results for λ become unreliable. It is shown that film formation may be made essentially layer by layer by a reasonable choice of the deposition flux density and the substrate temperature, provided that the system is one in which atoms can walk off terraces. It is also shown that elastic electron backscattering should not affect these calculations significantly.

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