Auger electron spectroscopy applications

The author discusses selected examples of Auger electron spectroscopy applications to the study of the role played by sulfur adsorption in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and its implication for the metallurgical problems of segregation, surface self-diffusion and temper embrittlement. 

Electronic spectra of surfaces can give information about what species are present and their valence states. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and its variant, ESC A, are commonly used. Figure VIII-11 shows the application to an A1 surface and Fig. XVIII-6, to the more complicated case of Mo supported on TiOi [37] Fig. XVIII-7 shows the detection of photochemically produced Br atoms on Pt(lll) [38]. Other spectroscopies that bear on the chemical state of adsorbed species include (see Table VIII-1) photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) [39-41], angle resolved PES or ARPES [42], and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) [43-47]. Spectroscopic detection of adsorbed hydrogen is difficult, and... 

Powell C J 1994 Inelastic interactions of electrons with surfaces applications to Auger-electron spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Surf. Sc/. 299-300 34... 

Laser ionization mass spectrometry or laser microprobing (LIMS) is a microanalyt-ical technique used to rapidly characterize the elemental and, sometimes, molecular composition of materials. It is based on the ability of short high-power laser pulses (-10 ns) to produce ions from solids. The ions formed in these brief pulses are analyzed using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The quasi-simultaneous collection of all ion masses allows the survey analysis of unknown materials. The main applications of LIMS are in failure analysis, where chemical differences between a contaminated sample and a control need to be rapidly assessed. The ability to focus the laser beam to a diameter of approximately 1 mm permits the application of this technique to the characterization of small features, for example, in integrated circuits. The LIMS detection limits for many elements are close to 10 at/cm, which makes this technique considerably more sensitive than other survey microan-alytical techniques, such as Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) or Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA). Additionally, LIMS can be used to analyze insulating sam-... 

Surface analysis has made enormous contributions to the field of adhesion science. It enabled investigators to probe fundamental aspects of adhesion such as the composition of anodic oxides on metals, the surface composition of polymers that have been pretreated by etching, the nature of reactions occurring at the interface between a primer and a substrate or between a primer and an adhesive, and the orientation of molecules adsorbed onto substrates. Surface analysis has also enabled adhesion scientists to determine the mechanisms responsible for failure of adhesive bonds, especially after exposure to aggressive environments. The objective of this chapter is to review the principals of surface analysis techniques including attenuated total reflection (ATR) and reflection-absorption (RAIR) infrared spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and to present examples of the application of each technique to important problems in adhesion science. 

Further structural information is available from physical methods of surface analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron or Auger electron spectroscopy (XPS), or secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and transmission or reflectance IR and UV/VIS spectroscopy. The application of both electroanalytical and surface spectroscopic methods has been thoroughly reviewed and appropriate methods are given in most of the references of this chapter. 

The application of surface analytical techniques, most notably X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), or its spatially resolved counterpart. Scanning Auger Microanalysis (SAM), is of great value in understanding the performance of a catalyst. However, the results obtained from any of these techniques are often difficult to interpret, especially when only one technique is used by itself. 

Auger electron spectroscopy is preferred over XPS where high spatial resolution is required, although the samples need to be conducting and tolerant to damage from the electron beam. Many oxides readily decompose under electron radiation, and this may give rise to difficulty in spectral interpretation, and this has restricted the application of AES in the field of catalysis. 

Thus the electrons used in LEED are usually in the range 10 to 300 eV, lower in energy by one to two orders of magnitude than those used in scanning electron microscopy (SEM Chapter 1) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES see Section 9. lb.2). Davisson (Nobel Prize, 1937), working with a series of collaborators, is generally credited with the first application of electrons to diffraction studies. 

Passivation of active metals to hydrogen reaction has been recognized as an important problem in basic metal-hydrogen studies, especially in their technological application to various situations. Few investigations have addressed these difficulties. The advent of modern surface analytical techniques such as photoelectron spectroscopyy Auger electron spectroscopy, and ion spectrometry offer a tremendous opportunity to attack the passivation question. Each of these techniques is discussed with regard to their capabilities and application to hydride kinetics. 

Recent developments in the use of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) have improved the possibilities for a quantitative study of the surface composition (lOa-IOd). By employing an internal standard (77) many of the ambiguities of previous applications have been eliminated. The application of AES has greatly improved the reliability of surface composition determinations compared with previous results. 

Several other microanalytical methods in common use potentially have application on soil and sediments section samples. Laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometery (LA-ICP-MS) has been used on soil thin-sections from a controlled field experiment (21) but required special resins in the preparation. There is presently (May 2006) no reported use of this method on archaeological soil samples. Likewise, for extremely fine-resolution studies (i.e. <10 pm) with low minimum detection limits and despite difficult calibration, secondary ion microscopy (SIMS) has a potential role in examining archaeological soil thin sections. At even higher lateral resolutions ( 100 nm) Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) could also be considered for surface (<5 nm deep) analyses. At present however, the use of these methods in soil systems is limited. SIMS has been focused on biochemical applications (22), whereas AES... 

A new method of interpreting Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) sputter profiles of transition metal carbides and nitrides is proposed. It is shown that the chemical information hidden in the shape of the peaks, and usually neglected in depth profiles, can be successfully extracted by factor analysis (FA). The various carbide and nitride phases of model samples were separated by application of FA to the spectra recorded during AES depth profiles. The different chemical states of carbon, nitrogen and metal were clearly identified. 

Figure 4.9 Reprinted from Wear, Vol. 66, H.J. Mathieu and D. Landolt, The application of Auger electron spectroscopy to the study of wear surfaces, pp. 87-100. Copyright 1981, with permission from Elsevier.

In situ methods permit the examination of the surface in its electrolytic environment with application of the electrode potential of choice. Usually they are favored for the study of surface layers. Spectroscopic methods working in the ultra high vacuum (UHV) are a valuable alternative. Their detailed information about the chemical composition of surface films makes them an almost inevitable tool for electrochemical research and corrosion studies. Methods like X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), UV Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and the Ion Spectroscopies as Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (ISS) and Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) have been applied to metal surfaces to study corrosion and passivity. 

The third problem also concerns the choice of whether to leave out certain material. In a book of this size it is not possible to cover all branches of spectroscopy. Such decisions are difficult ones but I have chosen not to include spin resonance spectroscopy (NMR and ESR), nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy (NQR), and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The exclusion of these areas, which have been well covered in other texts, has been caused, I suppose, by the inclusion, in Chapter 8, of photoelectron spectroscopy (ultraviolet and X-ray), Auger electron spectroscopy, and extended X-ray absorption fine structure, including applications to studies of solid surfaces, and, in Chapter 9, the theory and some examples of lasers and some of their uses in spectroscopy. Most of the material in these two chapters will not be found in comparable texts but is of very great importance in spectroscopy today. 

A variety of model catalysts have been employed we start with the simplest. Single-crystal surfaces of noble metals (platinum, rhodium, palladium, etc.) or oxides are structurally the best defined and the most homogeneous substrates, and the structural definition is beneficial both to experimentalists and theorists. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) facilitated the discovery of the relaxation and reconstruction of clean surfaces and the formation of ordered overlayers of adsorbed molecules (3,28-32). The combined application of LEED, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), field emission microscopy (FEM), X-ray and UV-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS), IR reflection... 

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