Streaked or elongated spots are common to RHEED patterns. As Fig 3 shows, the reciprocal lattice rods with the lowest orders intersect the Ewald sphere at very small angles, so the intersection between the rods and sphere is not a singular point if the sphere and rods have thickness. The incident electron beam diverges and electrons in the beam have a range of energies, so in practice, the Ewald sphere is not infinitely thin as it is theoretically modeled. The reciprocal lattice rods have a finite thickness as well, with their diameters dependent on the quality of the sample surface. Streaks appear in the place of perfect points when broadened rods intersect the Ewald sphere. Diffraction conditions are fulfilled over the entire intersection of the rods with the sphere, yielding elongated points or ‘streaks’ along the vertical axis of the RHEED pattern. In real cases, streaky RHEED patterns indicate a flat sample surface while the broadening of the streaks indicate small area of coherence on the surface.