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.

　様々な炭素材料の二次電子放出特性について，オージェ電子分光分析装置（SAM）と特製ファラデーカップ付きサンプルホルダーを用いて検討した．本手法を用いた過去の検討によって，二次電子放出係数δは表面組成に大きく依存することが確かめられている[J. Surf. Anal. 11, 71 (2004)]．本報告では，組成は同一であり，かつ異なる表面構造をとることができる炭素材料を用いて二次電子放出特性を検討した．その結果，(1)いずれの炭素材料ともδ値は小さく，二次電子放出を抑える効果が期待される．(2)表面粗さの増大に伴うδ変化は，一次電子エネルギーの低い領域と高い領域で異なった．(3) δの値は200 nm下の基板の影響を受けない，等の知見が得られた．δを評価するにあたり，表面組成だけではなく構造，配向性，粗さなどの要因によって値が影響を受けることを心得ておく必要があると考えられる．

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.

　電子分光装置において，インプットレンズ系によって電子を減速させてからアナライザに取り込むことで，エネルギー分解能を向上させることができます．電子ビームの減速は一般には感度の低下を伴い，これは輝度法則によって説明がなされます．しかし，分析の対象が点光源である場合，輝度の概念は意味を失い，かわりにインプットレンズ系の球面収差が感度を支配します．今回は，分解能と感度の減速率依存性，およびその光源サイズによる違いに関して議論します．

  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.