Application of positron annihilation induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy to the study of surface chemistry

Abstract

Positron annihilation induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES), makes use a beam of low energy positrons to excite Auger transitions by annihilating core electrons. This novel mechanism provides PAES with a number of unique features which distinguishes it from other methods of surface analysis. In PAES the very large collisionally induced secondary electron background which is present under the low energy Auger peaks using conventional tecniques can be eliminated by using a positron beam whose energy is below the range of Auger electron energies. In addition, PAES is more surface selective than conventional Auger Spectroscopy because the PAES signal originates almost exclusively from the topmost atomic layer due to the fact that the positrons annihilating with the core electrons are trapped in an image correlation well just outside the surface. In this paper, recent applications of Positron Annihilation Induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES) to the study of surface structure and surface chemistry will be discussed including studies of the growth, alloying and inter-diffusion of ultrathin layers of metals, metals on semiconductors, and semiconductors on semiconductors. In addition, the possibilities for future application of PAES to the study of catalysis and surface chemistry will be outlined.