Perspectives for surface structure analysis with low energy electron diffraction

The two main methods for surface structure determination, X-ray diffraction and low energy electron diffraction, are briefly compared and two areas are discussed where the application and further development of LEED seems promising. One field is the measurement of thermal vibration with LEED and the second is the analysis of substrate induced distortions in adsorbed organic molecules. As a test case for the analysis of thermal vibrations the results of a temperature dependent LEED I(V) analysis of Cu(110) is presented showing that LEED is sensitive enough to measure anisotropic vibration amplitudes. As example for organic molecules the results of a LEED I(V) analysis of thiouracil on Ag(111) are presented and compared to the results of a previous X-ray study. The differences in the structural details can be related to the different diffraction geometries of surface X-ray diffraction and LEED. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.