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Voltage contrast XPS—a novel scheme for spatially resolved XPS studies
Author(s) -
Boland John J.
Publication year - 1987
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.740100215
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , biasing , thermionic emission , voltage , contrast (vision) , component (thermodynamics) , materials science , electron , energy (signal processing) , binding energy , analytical chemistry (journal) , computer science , optoelectronics , computational physics , chemistry , atomic physics , physics , optics , nuclear magnetic resonance , quantum mechanics , chromatography
A novel scheme is introduced which allows spatially resolved XPS studies to be performed in device applications by taking advantage of the ability to bias the various components of the device. The application of a bias voltage produces a shift in the Fermi level of the biased component and there is a corresponding shift in the binding energy of electrons emitted from this component. In this manner it is possible to discriminate between the XPS signals due to a given element but which originate from different areas of the sample. By analogy with the corresponding biasing scheme employed in SEM studies, this technique has been called Voltage Contrast XPS. To illustrate the capabilities of this technique an application involving a recently proposed integrated thermionic emission device is presented.