Electron-stimulated desorption, surface structure

The most common ions observed as a result of electron-stimulated desorption are atomic (e. g., H, 0, E ), but molecular ions such as OH", CO", H20, and 02" can also be found in significant quantities after adsorption of H2O, CO, CO2, etc. Substrate metallic ions have never been observed, which means that ESD is not applicable to surface compositional analysis of solid materials. The most important application of ESD in the angularly resolved form ESDIAD is in determining the structure and mode of adsorption of adsorbed species. This is because the ejection of positive ions in ESD is not isotropic. Instead the ions are desorbed along specific directions only, characterized by the orientation of the molecular bonds that are broken by electron excitation. 

Madey T E 1986 Electron- and photon-stimulated desorption probes of structure and bonding at surfaces Science 234 316... 

Electrons interact with solid surfaces by elastic and inelastic scattering, and these interactions are employed in electron spectroscopy. For example, electrons that elastically scatter will diffract from a single-crystal lattice. The diffraction pattern can be used as a means of structural determination, as in LEED. Electrons scatter inelastically by inducing electronic and vibrational excitations in the surface region. These losses form the basis of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). An incident electron can also knock out an inner-shell, or core, electron from an atom in the solid that will, in turn, initiate an Auger process. Electrons can also be used to induce stimulated desorption, as described in section A 1.7.5.6. 

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