Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS)

Definition

Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is a characterization technique to measure kinetic energy change of electrons after inelastic interactions with materials, which provides structural and chemical information of the materials studied.

Scientific Fundamentals

Mechanism

Interactions between the incident electron beams and materials may result in electron energy loss. Because EELS has become a common ancillary technique in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we will herein mainly focus on TEM-EELS. Although the incident electrons are generally scattered by the total potential of atoms, the scattering process can be further categorized into elastic and inelastic processes depending on whether and how the incident electron responds to the field of the nucleus or to its surrounding electrons. Figure 1shows an exemplary energy loss spectrum. Generally, the spectrum can be divided into three components according to the origins of the energy loss: zero loss, low energy...