On the nature of electron diffuse scattering in lead tellurides thin films

Electron diffraction and electron-microscopy investigations into the structure of lead telluride thin films with different degree of deviation from stoichiometry are performed. The diference in the behaviour.of images of coherent diffuse scattering following annealing of lead telluride films with different deviation from stoichiometry is shown to indicate the dual nature of the cause of that difference. Along with thermal lattice vibrations, ordered ''antistructural'' defects, positioned in the form of single-atom chains Pb-Pb-along the < 001 > directions, contribute to the intensity of diffuse electron scattering