We present a theoretical description of the spectra of electrons elastically
scattered from various samples. The analysis is based on very large scale Monte Carlo
simulations of the recoil and Doppler effects in reflection and transmission geometries.
Besides the experimentally measurable energy distributions the simulations give many
partial distributions separately, depending on the number of elastic scatterings (single,
and multiple scatterings of different types). Furthermore, we present detailed analytical
calculations for the main parameters of the single scattering, taking into account both
the ideal scattering geometry, i.e. infinitesimally small angular range, and the effects of
the real, finite angular range used in the measurements. The effect of the multiple
scattering on intensity ratios, peak shifts and broadening, are shown. We show results
for multicomponent and double layer samples. Our Monte Carlo simulations are
compared with experimental data. We found that our results are in good agreement
with the experimental observations.
Keywords: Elastic scattering, Monte Carlo simulation, Multiple scattering, Recoil
and Doppler effects, Reflection and transmission geometries.