AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Friday Sessions
       Session AS-FrM

Paper AS-FrM2
XPS-imaging; Investigation of the Potentials of a Recent Algorithm Applied to a Patterned Polymer

Friday, November 4, 2005, 8:40 am, Room 206

Session: Practical Methods and Applications for Surface Analysis
Presenter: S.J. Coultas, Kratos Analytical Ltd, UK
Authors: S. Hajati, University of Southern Denmark
S. Tougaard, University of Southern Denmark
S.J. Coultas, Kratos Analytical Ltd, UK
C.J. Blomfield, Kratos Analytical Ltd, UK
C. Moffitt, Kratos Analytical Ltd, UK
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have investigated the practical potentials of a recent algorithm for automatic data processing of XPS spectra.@footnote 1@ For each XPS peak, this algorithm determines the total amount of the corresponding atoms within the outermost ~ 3 inelastic electron mean free paths and it also gives an estimate of their depth distribution. The validity of the algorithm was recently tested@footnote 2@ by analysis of conventional (low lateral resolution) XPS measurements from layered samples. It was found to be very accurate and robust and much superior to usual analysis which relies on peak areas. In this paper we have studied spectra acquired at high lateral resolution (~2µm) of a patterned hydrophilic plasma polymer deposited on to a PTFE substrate. The spectra are reconstructed from a series of parallel photoelectron images recorded using a pulse counting delay line detector. For each pixel, we have used the C1s, F1s and O1s peaks to determine the amount of atoms as well as their approximate depth distribution for each element. The method is less accurate than the traditional QUASES-peak shape analysis method. However the latter requires operator interaction and is not practical for XPS imaging where thousands of spectra must be analyzed. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ S. Tougaard, J. Vac Sci. Technol. A21, 1081 (2003)@footnote 2@ S. Tougaard, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 2005, In press .