Determining adsorbate structures from substrate emission X-ray photoelectron diffraction

A new substrate emission X-ray photoelectron diffraction method that subtracts a clean substrate measurement from a measurement of the adsorbate-covered sample is able to reveal important adsorbate–substrate registry information while it suppresses disturbing substrate effects in the diffractograms. Short measurement times and an unambiguous data quality allow for a quick and convincing structural characterization of homogeneous adsorbate layers. The data processing and analysis methods are illustrated with experimental h-BN/Ni(1 1 1) data and multiple-scattering calculations.