Invited Paper AS-MoM1
Quantitative Surface Analysis - Applying Thirty Years of Progress and Addressing New Analysis Needs

Monday, October 15, 2007, 8:00 am, Room 610

Over the past thirty plus years, advances in instrumental capability, analytical approaches and the establishment of data bases have significantly improved the reliability of instrumentation and the possible accuracy of surface analysis. The significant contributions of Cedric Powell, Martin Seah along with those of many others provided the foundation for many of these advancements and served to establish many of the elements of surface analysis as it is currently practiced. From the prospective of the growth of the use of techniques such as XPS and based on the number of surface analysis systems available around the world, it is clear that use of the methods is increasing and many users are no longer experts. At the same time, many of the pioneering researchers who have made these advancements possible and who have the greatest knowledge about the techniques are at or nearing retirement age. Thus, we currently face two different but related challenges. First, we need to establish ways to efficiently transfer the important analytical knowledge to new and often less expert analysts. Second, new types of materials make additional demands on the analytical capabilities and it is important for a new generation of researchers to pick up the challenge. This talk will note some aspects of the progress and address the current challenges from the view of a nanotechnology project manager, the use of surface analysis in a DOE User facility (the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, EMSL), and from the view of a participant in two committees developing surface chemical analysis guides and standards. From the viewpoint of a project manager, it is useful to extract as much information as possible form the techniques being used. For some nanomaterials, this often requires application of multiple techniques, sophisticated analysis of some types of data and allowing the analysis of data from one method to inform the data collection and analysis of other types of data. In the EMSL we find that we are in a constant education mode teaching users about how to plan experiments, handle samples, collect and analyze data to obtain the desired information. The ASTM Committee E42 on surface analysis is currently working on a variety of consensus guides to enable new users to apply the experience of topical experts to analyze some type of samples and problems.