ABSTRACT

During reflection high-energy electron diffraction, electron standing waves are formed near the surface as a result of interference between incident and diffracted beams. By choosing an appropriate glancing angle and an appropriate energy level of the incident electron beam, it is possible to localize the electron waves on or between surface atomic planes. This technique is called “electron channelling”. Characteristic x-ray yields from surface atoms are significantly changed by the channeling conditions since the x-rays are strongly excited when the wave field is localized at the positions of atoms. From this phenomenon, sites and heights of adatoms can be determined. In this review, an outline of surface electron channeling and its application to structure analysis of Si( 111) surfaces adsorbed by metals (Ga, In, Sn), with reference to results of recent structure analyses using bulk electron channeling and other related works, are presented.