Quantification in high-energy resolution Auger electron spectroscopy; Proposal of a reference target convolution technique for direct spectra

Currently, high-energy resolution Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is utilized for chemical-state qualitative analysis, such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is highly desirable to perform quantitative analysis using the high-energy resolution direct spectra used for qualitative analysis. However, AES analysis parameters, such as relative sensitivity factors (RSFs), derived from conventional-energy resolution differentiated spectra cannot be adopted for high-energy resolution direct spectra. Furthermore, for quantification by high-energy resolution direct spectra, there is no established method for determining peak intensity, and no database of RSFs is available in surface analysis communities. Therefore, we tasked ourselves with investigating the use of the analysis parameters obtained from conventional-energy resolution-differentiated spectra obtained with a cylindrical mirror analyzer (CMA)-type AES instrument for high-energy resolution direct spectra measured with a spherical capacitor analyzer (SCA)-type AES instrument. The convolution technique proposed here is achieved by using a conventional-energy resolution spectral dataset obtained with CMA-AES as a target. By applying the convolution with the window function of the convoluted function of the Gaussian function and rectangular function, high-energy resolution direct spectra containing the inherent nature of fine structures are converted to the similar shapes of conventional-energy resolution direct spectra after the Shirley type background subtraction [Watanabe et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 41, 043209 (2023)]. Results revealed that for all spectra of conventional-energy resolution spectra taken with CMA-AES, as well as high-energy resolution spectra taken with SCA-AES with various energy resolutions, the ratios of the background-subtracted direct peak areas and the differentiated peak-to-peak intensities were well-aligned along the identical parabolic curve as a function of the kinetic energy (KE). Experimental results also revealed that the generalized conversion function f(KE;ΔE)=IareacmaIareaconv.sca(KE;ΔE), which is the ratio of the conventional-energy resolution spectral area (Iareacma) and the convoluted high-energy resolution spectral area (Iareaconv.sca), which can transform differentiated intensities of convoluted high-energy resolution spectra, such that they are similar to those of conventional-energy resolution spectra obtained using the CMA-AES instrument, being a function of KE and the energy resolution ΔE. By applying the conversion function, the historically accumulated AES analysis parameters for conventional-energy resolution differentiated spectra can be adopted to differentiated high-energy resolution spectra. Finally, the results revealed the sufficiency of the conversion function obtained by the actual measurements of the four reference specimens for the practical quantification of high-energy resolution AES direct spectra.