Two
different types of interactions appear:
Elastic
Interactions
No energy is transferred from the electron to the sample.
The electron either passes without any interaction (direct beam) or is scattered
by the electrostatic attraction of the positive potential inside the electron cloud. These signals
are mainly exploited in TEM and electron
diffraction.
Inelastic
Interactions
Energy is transferred from
the incident
electrons to the sample: secondary
electrons, phonons, UV quanta or cathodo- luminescence are
produced; shooting out inner
shell electrons leads to the emission of X-rays or Auger electrons. These
signals are used in analytical electron microscopy.
A script giving an overview can be downloaded here: interactions. |
