5023. Auger analysis of surface deposits formed by exposure to plasma discharges in Doublet III: J N Smith Jr and C H Meyer Jr, J Vac Sci Technol, 19 (1), 1981, 63–71

Abstract

Auger transitions occurring at solid surfaces give spectra containing information on the energy distribution of valence electrons involved in the transition. Thus Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) can be used as a valence band (VB) Spectroscopy that is surface sensitive. Analyses of a number of core-valence-valence (CVV) Auger spectra are reviewed to illustrate the VB information contained in their lineshapes and to indicate current understanding of the physics of the Auger process as it applies to solids. The KVV spectrum from elemental beryllium is an example of a CW line that can be analyzed simply in terms of the sum of convolution products of independent-particle VB density-of-states (DOS) components. Other elemental solids for which such simple arguments suffice include Al, Si, Li, Ti, Co and B. The CW spectra from copper are discussed as examples of CW lineshapes that are distorted from those expected from simple VB DOS arguments because localization in the two-hole Auger final state for Cu makes hole-hole interactions important in determining the Auger lineshapes. Initial state screening is shown to influence the CVV lineshapes from Be as well as Cu. CVV spectra from the compound surfaces BeO and SiO2 are analyzed using concepts of interatomic transitions as well as independent-parsite. ticle VB arguments. These spectra show that AES is a probe of the local DOS about the core-hole This ability of AES to give local bonding information is illustrated by analyses of CW spectra from multi-component surfaces which may be made in terms of the simple superposition of local-bonding signals. Thus the Si-L23VV signal from silicon oxynitride is shown to be the superposition of signals representing elemental Si, Si-H, Si-N and Si-O bonding.