Paper CA-ThP2
Using AES, EDS, and FIB to Detect, Identify, and Image Buried Metallic Particles

Thursday, October 24, 2019, 6:30 pm, Room Union Station B

Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) is a powerful analytical tool that provides quantitative elemental information from surfaces of solid materials. The average depth of analysis for an AES measurement is approximately 5 nm with lateral spatial resolution as small as 8 nm. The information AES provides about surface layers or thin film structures is important for many industrial and research applications where surface or thin film composition plays a critical role in performance including: nanomaterials, photovoltaics, catalysis, corrosion, adhesion, semiconductor devices and packaging, magnetic media, display technology, and thin film coatings used for numerous applications.

In this work, we demonstrate the use of AES in conjunction with a focused ion beam (FIB) to produce site specific imaging of microscale features beneath a sample surface. The combination of the two techniques allows for high spatial resolution analysis of buried particles and defects. This information can be very useful in helping to determine important parameters such as the origin of defects, corrosion mechanisms, coating problems, etc. We will highlight the advantages of FIB milling compared to traditional depth profiling. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is also a powerful complementary technique to Auger analysis as it provides information from much deeper in the sample surface (few µm). With the combination of AES, FIB, and EDS, we show that buried metal particles can be first located and characterized with EDS, followed by the subsequent FIB milling and high spatial resolution Auger spectroscopy and imaging of the particles.