Auger electron spectroscopy from elemental standards. III. Backgrounds and peak‐to‐background ratios

Background levels and Auger peak‐to‐background ( P / B ) ratios have been measured for the elements Si, Cu, Ag and W in two different machines. The relative contributions of secondary electrons and primary back‐scattered electrons to the background under the Auger peak, as a function of probe energy E 0 and incident angle θ 0 , have been studied, and the trends are discussed. The P / B ratio is roughly constant for θ 0 ≤ 60°, which is useful for minimizing topographic effects in scanning Auger microscopy. At high E 0 and θ 0 , secondary electrons dominate the background and P / B tends to a constant. The ratio P / B 1/2 is a measure of detectability; it decreases only slowly with E 0 because of the reduction in back‐scattered background. This is favourable for Auger microprobes operating at higher E 0 than presently available.