Structural characterization of metal-metal interfaces by intermediate-energy Auger-electron diffraction

Abstract

The elastic scattering of 351-eV Auger electrons originating in the interfacial region is used to probe the structure of the Ag/Pd(001) interface. Polar-angle-resolved Auger-emission profiles and kinematical scattering calculations show that the mode of growth is epitaxial. Auger-electron diffraction in this intermediate energy range produces intensity maxima along low-index directions which result from simple near-neighbor forward scattering. The overall shapes of observed angular distributions are in good agreement with those predicted using kinematical scattering theory. This technique is shown to be sensitive to the local coordination of the emitting atom and is therefore useful for studying epitaxy at interfaces