| AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session AS-WeM |
| Session: | Electron Spectroscopies |
| Presenter: | A.S. Lea, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Authors: | A.S. Lea, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory K.R. Swanson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory J.R. Haack, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory M.H. Engelhard, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory D.R. Sisk, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory D.R. Baer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory J.E. Castle, University of Surrey, UK S. Tougaard, University of Southern Denmark |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The utilization of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for the analysis of different types of materials is rapidly growing around the world due to the importance of surface and interfaces and the need for a more detailed analysis of many types of these materials. But, as the use of XPS expands, the knowledge of the technique by the typical user actually decreases and the knowledge and methods that have been developed over the years is not readily transferred to new users. To address this need, a method to automate some aspects of data analysis being developed in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) and is described here.
Real-time (or near real-time) analysis of the XPS data as it is collected has several potential advantages to scientists and instrument operators. It not only has the potential to improve the turn-around time for data analysis and the sophistication of data analysis reportable to the User, but also to reduce the labor involved in data analysis and reporting, resulting in significant time (and cost) savings. The rapid data analysis can also impact the amount of data that needs to be collected and alter the course of planned measurements. Our development of a near real time XPS analysis has goals to provide atomic composition, carbon contamination layer thickness and component segregation (layer) information as soon as adequate data is collected on a specimen. This real-time data analysis package follows many elements of the expert system approach proposed by Castle1 and some analysis methods developed by Tougaard2. A set of rules and algorithms are used to address a well defined series of analysis objectives to characterize the surface in terms of atomic concentration, layer sequences, and enrichment/depletion of elements as a function of depth.
We will demonstrate the rapid identification of the presence of carbon contamination (using an expert system approach to contrast this with carbon incorporation in the sample), production of a corrected surface composition analysis when the carbon is contamination, and determination of surface enrichment (or depletion) capabilities of our data analysis package using several examples of samples we have analyzed in our laboratory.
1. Castle, J.E., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 25(1) (2007) 1-27.
2. Tougaard, S., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 21(4) (2003) 1081-1086.