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Composition of thin surface layers obtained by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Watton H. L. L.,
Fitzgerald A. G.,
Moir P. A.
Publication year - 1991
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.740170605
Subject(s) - overlayer , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , amorphous solid , materials science , silicon , thin film , silicon nitride , nitride , carbon fibers , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , crystallography , metallurgy , layer (electronics) , composite material , chromatography , composite number , engineering
The surface composition of a solid may vary considerably from the bulk composition of the material. For example, surface contaminants such as carbon, oxygen, sulphur and chlorine can be present as a thin overlayer. Recently, procedures have been developed that enable determination of the composition, thickness and surface coverage of a thin overlayer on a surface from AES spectra. In the present work, a similar procedure has been developed for analysis of thin overlayers by XPS. The calculation deals with two possible situations, the overlayer either does or does not contain elements that occur in the underlying material. The composition, thickness and surface coverage of a number of overlayers have been investigated, including the surface contaminant layers on amorphous silicon films, a series of amorphous silicon nitride films with varying atomic ratios of silicon and nitrogen and vacuum‐deposited gold films on amorphous silicon nitride substrates.