Electron diffraction profile and size distribution of islands on a surface

The profile of an electron beam diffracted from a crystal surface with ordered adsorbate-islands, in principle, contains information about the size distribution of the islands. However, due to the lack of an adequate deconvolution procedure, parameter fitting to certain presumed size distribution functions is usually employed. We derive a procedure for determining the size distribution of islands with similar triangular shape from their diffraction spots. In this procedure, the profile is first multiplied by a specific periodic function, and then the Fourier coefficients of the resulting function are calculated to obtain the island-size distribution. To estimate the measurement precision needed for a valid deconvolution of a profile, several ideal profiles corresponding to characteristically different distribution functions are compared.