Effective attenuation lengths for quantitative surface analysis by Auger-electron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Published

April 26, 2017

Author(s)

Cedric J. Powell, Aleksander Jablonski

Abstract

The effective attenuation length (EAL) is normally used in place of the inelastic mean free path (IMFP) to account for elastic-scattering effects when describing the attenuation of Auger electrons and photoelectrons from a planar substrate by an overlayer film. An EAL for quantitative analysis by Auger-electron spectroscopy (AES) or X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is similarly useful to account for elastic-scattering effects on the signal intensities. We calculated EALs for quantitative analysis by AES and XPS for four elemental solids (Si, Cu, Ag, and Au) and for energies between 160 eV and 1.4 keV. The XPS calculations were made for two instrumental configurations while the AES calculations were made from the XPS formalism after “switching off” the XPS anisotropy. The EALs for quantitative analysis by AES and XPS were weak functions of emission angle for emission angles between 0 and 50 degrees. The ratios of the average values of these EALs to the corresponding IMFPs could be fitted to a second-order function of the single-scattering albedo, a convenient measure of the strength of elastic-scattering effects. EALs for quantitative analysis by AES and XPS for other materials can be simply found from this relationship.

Citation

Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena

Volume

218

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elspec.2017.04.008

Keywords

Auger electron spectroscopy, effective attenuation length, elastic scattering, surface analysis, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Citation

Powell, C. and Jablonski, A. (2017), Effective attenuation lengths for quantitative surface analysis by Auger-electron spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elspec.2017.04.008 (Accessed October 24, 2025)