Invited Paper AS-WeM1
ASSD 30th Anniversary Lecture: A Historical Perspective of the Materials Challenges and Instrumentation Solutions Available for Practical X-ray Photoelectron and Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 8:00 am, Room 212D

During the first 30 years of the Applied Surface Science Division’s (ASSD) existence the changing world around us has driven the need for new materials for a wide range of applications including: higher performance coatings, structural materials, electronics, data storage devices, display and printing technology, energy storage devices, and many more. For most of these materials systems the composition of a surface, interface, thin film or nanostructure plays a critical role in the performance of the material. During the same period of time, analysts have endeavored to characterize these new materials and instrument manufacturers have endeavored to provide the analytical capabilities required by the analyst to answer critical questions about the materials being studied.

When the ASSD was formed in the 1985 the second generation of XPS and AES based surface analysis instrumentation was emerging and surface analysts were characterizing structural materials, catalysts, thin film coatings, semiconductor devices, magnetic storage media, and more. Common challenges faced by the analyst included quantification, insulator analysis, micro area analysis, the desire for more chemical information, the desire for 2D and 3D information, and keeping up with the demand for more data.

This presentation will provide a historical perspective on the evolution of both the materials challenges faced by surface analysts and the XPS and AES instrumentation that became commercially available to address these challenges. Finally we will comment on where we are today and possible future directions.