Low energy (1–100 eV) electron inelastic mean free path (IMFP) values determined from analysis of secondary electron yields (SEY) in the incident energy range of 0.1–10 keV

•The secondary electron yield (SEY) for arbitrary energies depends sensitively on the inelastic mean free path (IMFP) values at low energies (below 100 eV).•The energy dependence of the IMFP at low energies calculated on the basis of the Mermin dielectric function is found to be the more realistic.•The optimum IMFP values were shown to be not critically affected by the choice of the inner potential Ui.•The presented approach allows reverse engineering the IMFP at low energies.