Premium
Auger electron spectroscopy from elemental standards. III. Backgrounds and peak‐to‐background ratios
Author(s) -
Batchelor D. R.,
Bishop H. E.,
Venables J. A.
Publication year - 1989
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.740141106
Subject(s) - auger , auger electron spectroscopy , secondary electrons , electron , atomic physics , auger effect , spectroscopy , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , physics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , chromatography
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.