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Practical surface analysis: state of the art and recent developments in AES, XPS, ISS and SIMS
Author(s) -
Hofmann Siegfried
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.740090104
Subject(s) - homogeneity (statistics) , characterization (materials science) , high resolution , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , analytical chemistry (journal) , computer science , chemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , physics , remote sensing , nuclear magnetic resonance , geology , environmental chemistry , machine learning
This review considers the well established and most frequently applied surface analysis techniques: AES, XPS, ISS and SIMS in a comparative manner, confronting fundamental principles and present instrumental performance with the requests of the scientist. The primary goal of surface analysis is the determination of the elemental composition of the outermost atomic layer of a solid. In addition, characterization of binding states, of homogeneity and of structural details will often be required. Whereas the information gathered generally contains also contributions from deeper layers, the inherent high in depth resolution of the techniques allows thin film analysis with high precision. Thus, surface analysis includes the analysis of interfaces and thin films by depth profiling. Recent progress has led to improvements e.g. in sensitivity, spectral resolution and data acquisition and handling. With the trend to high spatial resolution, surface analysis is becoming a special branch of microlocal analysis. Quantification is of primary interest. However, the variety of approaches and their dependence on instrumental parameters hamper interlaboratory comparisons, pointing out the need of standardized methods and correction procedures, of well characterized test samples and of accurate data banks. Advance in precise quantification will depend on future progress in our understanding of matrix effects and beam‐sample interactions.