Bulk- and surface-plasmon-loss intensities in photoelectron, Auger, and electron-energy-loss spectra of Al metal

Abstract

The intensities of plasmon-loss satellites of core lines and the valence band in x-ray-photoemission spectra (XPS), as well as of Auger lines of A1 are determined by convoluting the no-loss spectra with an asymmetric Lorentzian line shape. Intrinsic processes contribute 25% of the total plasmon intensity of XPS core lines. For the valence band the intrinsic process is noticeably less and contributes approximately 12%. For the $\mathrm{KLL}$ and $\mathrm{KLV}$ Auger lines the intrinsic processes have the same contribution as for the XPS core lines. The extrinsic plasmon-loss intensity is measured independently on electron-energy-loss spectra. The line shape of the plasmon losses in the latter is different from that in x-ray photoemission and Auger spectra, and both are different from theoretical plasmon energy distribution functions. The importance of intrinsic processes is confirmed by the observation of a plasmon gain line in the $\mathrm{KLL}$ Auger spectrum.