Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Surface Analysis by Electron Spectroscopy at High Pressures

Published

Author(s)

Cedric J. Powell

Abstract

Surface analyses are now made by techniques such as Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and appearance potential spectroscopy (APS). These techniques utilize low-energy electrons and have high surface sensitivity but cannot be used at high pressures [10-4 Torr(10-2 Pa)]. Optical techinques can be used at high pressures but their surface sensitivity is poor. It is proposed to combine these approaches by using the high-pressure gas as a converter. Two situations are considered. First, variable-energy x-rays are used to produce variable-energy photoelectrons from the gas which impinge on the sample; these electrons constitute a suitable source for APs. Second, the variable-energy x-rays produce photoelectrons from the sample (XPS) of variable energy; these electrons can be detected using the gas for APS. In both cases, the derivative of the x-ray yield from the gas-sample cell is measured as a function of incident x-ray energy; features in the derivative spectrum can be correlated with the core levels of surface atoms of the sample. Design calculations based on x-ray intensities from available sources indicate that the proposed method could only be useful for specialized applications.
Citation
Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology
Volume
15
Issue
2

Citation

Powell, C. (1978), Surface Analysis by Electron Spectroscopy at High Pressures, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology (Accessed November 14, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created March 1, 1978, Updated February 19, 2017