Surface Sensitivity
XPS features:
BASIC PRINCIPLES
BASIC PRINCIPLES
The working principle of XPS involves radiating the sample with monochromatic
X-ray radiation of known frequency (n) and hence of known photon energy (hn).
With the bombardment by the incident photons of high energy, electrons from the
inner core of the atoms in the sample are ejected out. Once the electrons are
released, some of them travel towards. Electrons which hold enough energy at this
point may abandon the solid material for the surrounding vacuum. Once in the
vacuum, they are collected and measured for their kinetic energy Ek.
The binding energy of the electron Eb which they had before leaving the atom can
then be calculated by means of the following equation:
Eb = (hn) − Ek − w
where w is the so-called work function of the spectrometer, a factor that corrects for
the electrostatic environment in which the electron is formed and measured.
BASIC PRINCIPLES
The relationship governing the
interaction of a photon with a core
level is:
KE = hn – BE – eF
or
BE = hn – KE – eF
SURFACE SENSITIVITY
BASIC ANALYSIS
Identification of the elements in the sample can be made directly from the
kinetic energies of these ejected photoelectrons.
The binding energy is characteristic of the elemental atom and orbital from
which the electron was emitted. Therefore, it functions as an identification
card for determination of atoms involved.
Each binding energy matches a specific atom type, for example 284.6 eV for
carbon (C) and 532.5 eV for oxygen (O)..
ANALYSIS OBJECTIVE
XPS QUANTIFICATION
Quantitative data can be obtained from peak heights or peak areas, and
identification of chemical states often can be made from exact
measurements of peak positions and separations, as well as from certain
spectral features.
Wide
scan
XPS high energy resolution spectra of solar cell before & after KCN
treatment
PEAK DECONVOLUTION