Analysis of target-current-spectroscopy data of GaAs(110) with very-low-energy electron-diffraction calculations

Abstract

The target current from GaAs(110) is modeled with the elastic reflection coefficient ${\mathit{R}}_{\mathit{e}}$ as 1-${\mathit{R}}_{\mathit{e}}$ and calculated via a dynamical very-low-energy electron-diffraction formalism incorporating a surface-barrier potential and an energy-dependent damping inside the crystal. It is found that the structure in the theoretical target-current-spectroscopy (TCS) curves is intimately connected to the complex band structure of the semiconductor and the one-dimensional density of states derived from it. A comparison of the theory with experimental TCS spectra and their energy derivatives for varying incident polar angles shows good agreement and verifies the theoretical bulk band structure in the low-energy range.