Studies of surface resonance waves in RHEED

Abstract

Dynamical calculations have shown that the surface resonance wave is confined to the surface top few layers in the geometry of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED); it takes the dominant role in the resonance reflections of electrons from surfaces. The Goose–Hanchen effect is valid for describing the scattering of electrons in RHEED. The interrupting effect on the resonance wave of a surface step is shown to be sensitive to the step height. This effect is demonstrated as a new method of determining step heights as well as their distribution on surfaces.