AES Analysis of Insulating Oxide Materials by Means of Simultaneous Helium Ion Bombardment

Abstract

In Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) on insulating materials, Auger peaks are tend to be disturbed by background noise due to negative charging of the material surface. To suppress this noise, we discribed a method to reduce the surface negative charges by means of simultaneous helium ion bombardment and discussed the mechanism of the surface charge reduction which improve the AES spectrum and AES peak shifts. By neutralizing the negative charges with the optimum amount of helium ion bombardment, maximum AES signal intensity and normal Auger electron energy can be obtained. Excess negative or positive charges disturb the escaping Auger electrons and Auger eneregy due to coulomb force. We estimated the neutralizing effects by examining Auger peak intensity and peak energy at common oxygen Auger peakes of Al₂O₃, SiO₂ and SrTiO₃ with various He⁺ ion beam currents.