Spectromicroscopy beamline at ELETTRA: Performances achieved at the end of commissioning

In the course of 1998, the Spectromicroscopy beamline at ELETTRA completed commissioning and succeeded in performing its first test experiments. The beamline is designed to perform photoemission experiments with high spatial resolution, which is obtained by focusing the radiation in a small spot on the sample by means of a multilayer-coated Schwarzschild Objective. Three objectives are currently available; these operate at photon energies of 74, 95, and 110 eV. A review is presented of the performances achieved together with an outlook on the future upgrades of the microscope. The smallest achievable spot size is currently 0.5 mu m. At present, the limit to the spatial resolution is due to aberrations caused by figure errors of the objective. Typical counting rates in photoemission spectra, for example, on the Au 5d peak, are of the order of 10(4)-10(5) counts per second with an energy resolution of the order of 100-200 meV. Among the first experiments in which p- and n-type GaAs layers of 0.25 mu m thickness were imaged. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)04001-6].