| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2016) | |
| Thin Films | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF-WeP |
| Session: | Thin Films Posters Session II |
| Presenter: | Joseph Robinson, Thermo Scientific, USA |
| Authors: | J. Robinson, Thermo Scientific, USA T. Nunney, Thermo Scientific, USA, UK A. Bushell, Thermo Scientific J. Treacy, Thermo Scientific C. Deeks, Thermo Scientific, USA P. Mack, Thermo Scientific, USA |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling has been widely utilized to provide detailed elemental and chemical state information of thin films, such as those used in microelectronic devices and protective coatings. These measurements have often been combined with valence electronic information obtained using the related technique of Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS). Such detailed and complementary information is essential when attempting to fine-tune specific thin film parameters for best device or coating performance.
While useful information is acquired from XPS and UPS in isolation, a more powerful insight into the structure of a material comes from using these two techniques in conjunction, allowing a more complete material characterisation to be performed. Previously, switching between techniques throughout the course of an experiment has been an involved and often laborious process, discouraging more widespread use. Recently the automation of UPS has allowed acquisition of XPS and UPS data at each level of a depth profile, providing a much sought after insight into the correlation between chemical and electronic structure at within a substrate at various depths.
Of particular interest is the ability to access the valence electronic structure at mixed oxide interfaces using small argon ion gas clusters, which was not previously possible due to the loss of electronic structure in semiconductors or organic materials on exposure to monatomic argon ion beams. This presentation demonstrates the wealth of information that can be acquired by performing combined XPS-UPS depth profiles and the ease with which this information can be acquired and processed, due to recent instrumentation and software developments.