Spectrum Processing for Quantitative Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Abstract

  There are many approaches for quantitative Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and procedures are still being proposed. Matrix effects are usually neglected in quantitative analysis, and often result in errors by more than a factor of two. These errors arise from the neglect of electron backscattering, change in density and change in electron inelastic mean free path with change of matrix. One proposal to reduce such errors is the use of average matrix sensitivity factors instead of elemental sensitivity factors, but this approach has not yet been adopted by the AES community (and is not discussed here). This paper deals with some fundamental approaches that have been used to measure and isolate Auger peaks (and area values) for use in quantitative analysis, particularly those that were adopted in the early days of practical Auger electron spectroscopy. These early approaches include spectrum simulation, spectrum subtraction and spectrum integration, and many of their aspects are still important today.