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Quantitative AES: The establishment of a standard reference spectrum for the accurate determination of spectrometer transmission functions
Author(s) -
Smith G. C.,
Seah M. P.
Publication year - 1988
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.740120208
Subject(s) - spectrometer , transmission (telecommunications) , energy (signal processing) , sample (material) , computational physics , intensity (physics) , optics , physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , statistics , chemistry , mathematics , computer science , telecommunications , chromatography , thermodynamics
The precise shape of the whole electron spectrum in AES is defined by (i) the physics of the process, and (ii) the intensity/energy transmission function of the measurement system. In many systems item (ii) is uncharacterized and surveys show variable effects of over an order of magnitude. This gives rise to equivalent errors in quantitative AES where published data banks are used and the spectrometers are uncalibrated. In this study we consider both the process and the measurement system, and show how the parameters of each may be measured and how each affects the final measured spectrum in the direct mode. The factors considered include the orientation of both the incident and emitted electrons, and the energy dependence of the transmissivities of the spectrometer and the detection system. Detailed measurements of high accuracy for a copper reference sample show the extent to which the reference procedures may be followed and equivalent data be recorded from different instruments.