We studied the background in electron spectroscopy that was caused by the scattering of signal electrons in the specific cylindrical mirror analyzer (CMA) developed for absolute Auger electron spectroscopy. For this, a mini-electron gun was set at a sample position to calibrate the trajectories of signal electrons in the CMA. The electron beam current (i_in) entering the CMA was measured using a retractable Faraday cup and the detected current (i_out) was measured using another Faraday cup (normally used for detecting Auger electrons). It was revealed that the two meshes spun in the inner cylindrical electrode act as micro lenses for signal electrons, significantly deteriorating the CMA characteristics by the deflection and scattering of the signal electrons in the CMA. The measured energy spectra demonstrated the excellent performance of electron spectrometry with a signal to noise ratio of ～10⁷.

  The ISO/TC201 (Technical Committee of Surface Chemical Analysis)/SC3 (Data Management and Treatment) has proposed the algorithms of peak detection in XPS spectra. In order to evaluate these methods, we have developed a set of XPS spectra as an activity in VAMAS (The Versailles project on Advanced Materials and Standards)/TWA2 (Surface Chemical Analysis) committee. The artificial three kinds of XPS spectra were generated from the measured XPS spectra. Based on these spectra we have developed an additional set of 30 spectra that have the superposed statistically defined noises. Using this data set, we have also carried out the evaluation of the programs for the XPS peak detection, which provided by ISO TC201 SC3. In conclusion, we found many problems on the provided software that must be due to the use of un-appropriate parameters. In this software, it is impossible to select the other parameters because SC3 committee does not open its algorithm completely. Then, we concluded that the provided software is premature for practical use in XPS peak detection.

  The secondary electron emission characteristics of various carbon materials have been studied using a conventional scanning Auger microscope (SAM) and a specially designed sample holder with a Faraday-cup attachment. In previous investigations using this technique, we confirmed that the secondary electron emission coefficient δ was largely dependent on the surface composition [J. Surf. Anal. 11, 71 (2004)]. The present study examined the secondary electron emission characteristics of carbon materials having various surface structures, with the same surface composition. The results clarified the following points. (1) δ of all the carbon materials examined was small in comparison with other materials, suggesting that they have an effect of restraining secondary electron emissions. (2) The change in δ due to an increase in surface roughness varied between the low and high regions of primary electron energy. (3) δ was not dependent on the substrate at a depth below 200 nm. In evaluating δ, it should be kept in mind that δ is affected by not only the surface composition but also the surface structure, orientation, and surface roughness of the material.

In surface analysis such as AES (Auger electron spectroscopy) or XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), ion sputtering is generally used in order to remove contaminated layers and to perform an in-depth profiling. It is important to align an ion beam at an analysis area and to estimate sputtering rates prior to an actual measurement. In this report, two methods are introduced how to align the ion beam. (a) Faraday cup method is applicable to quantitatively estimate the ion beam by monitoring current and (b) SiO₂ method is an easy way to visually align the ion beam position. Detailed alignment procedures are promised to be useful for daily analysis workers.

  In electron spectrometers, retardation of electrons by an input lens system is a standard technique for improving energy resolution. The effect of the retardation is explained with reference to the law of brightness, which shows how the sensitivity is changed according to the retardation. However, the concept of brightness loses its meaning if a source is assumed to be a point. In suh a situation, the sensitivity is governed by the amount of spherical aberration of a lens system. The dependence of resolution and sensitivity on retardation and the effect of the size of a source are discussed in detail in this chapter.

  The spherical mirror analyser (SMA) for fast parallel XPS imaging of surfaces has been available on a commercially available photoelectron spectrometer for ten years. During this time numerous examples of both elemental and chemical state images have been published and x-ray photoelectron imaging has become a routine technique for the determination of lateral distribution of elements and chemical species at the surface. Here we review the properties of the SMA including spatial and energy resolution and provide examples of the capabilities of such an imaging analyser. In the last three years the combination of the SMA with a two-dimensional, pulse counting electron detector has again increased the level of information available for surface characterisation. The delay-line detector (DLD) represents the next generation of photoelectron detection for XPS imaging and has allowed the realisation of quantitative surface chemical state microscopy by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. To generate such information requires the acquisition of multi-spectral datasets comprising a series of images incremented in energy so that each pixel contains photoelectron intensity as a function of energy. The datasets generated by this method contain >65,500 spectra and are therefore ideally suited to multivariate analysis to analyse the information content of the dataset and as a tool for noise reduction in individual images or spectra.