Scattering of 2-20 keV electrons in aluminium

An investigation of the major scattering processes involved when an incident electron suffers an appreciable change of momentum in a metal has been undertaken. The results of this study have been incorporated within a Monte Carlo framework allowing calculations of energy and angular distributions of electrons, both transmitted and backscattered from films, to be made. The advantage of this treatment of the problem over earlier Monte Carlo work is that fundamental scattering processes are used rather than invoking mean energy-loss approximations, thus allowing an investigation to be made of the shortcomings of the theoretical treatments of the individual collision types. (author)