| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Monday Sessions |
| Session AS-MoM |
| Session: | Quantitative Surface Analysis: Obtaining Quantitative Information in the Face of Material Complexity and Morphology Influences |
| Presenter: | Christopher Deeks, Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK |
| Authors: | C. Deeks, Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK J.P.W. Treacy, Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK P. Mack, Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK T.S. Nunney, Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The technique of X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) is valued within the surface science community because it offers chemical quantification combined with surface specificity. The inherent surface sensitivity is due to the short mean free path of electrons (several nanometres) within solid media. Deducing the chemical composition of layers and interfaces at greater depths is achieved through milling the topmost layers by bombardment with argon ions. It has been well established, however, that milling with monatomic argon ions can cause sputter-induced damage at the surface, which in turn leads to a loss of chemical state information.
Surface etching with large clusters of argon enables the rapid collection of depth profiles from organic materials and removal of contamination from metal oxides while maintaining the chemical character of a material. Due to the relatively low energy per atom, however, the etch rates of most inorganic materials with these large clusters is not conducive to a high sample throughput. The implementation of smaller gas clusters allows higher energies per atom to be used, leading to increased rates of etching whilst preserving the chemical information that is lost when using monatomic argon.
Here we shall discuss how using a wider range of ion energies per atom enables more effective depth profiling of a wide variety of surface materials. We will present data from mixed inorganic and organic samples to show the benefits of these reduced cluster sizes.