Abstract
Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is a surface sensitive microanalytical technique. Auger electrons are only detected from the top few atomic layers due to their very small inelastic mean free paths. The lateral spatial resolution of AES of thin samples is dominated by the excitation beam profile. Thin samples are defined as having a thickness which is much smaller than the back-scattered electron range at the incident beam energy. Utilizing high current density nanometer-sized probes available in field emission gun STEMs, AES signals extracted from sample regions as small as a few atoms should be detectable. However, the extremely low production efficiency for Auger electrons makes this atomic scale resolution difficult to achieve in practice.We have achieved nanometer spatial resolution AES in our modified Vacuum Generators HB-501S. In this instrument secondary electrons emitted from either surface of the sample are efficiently collected using the collimating properties of the objective lens field, a sample bias potential and additional solenoidal focusing coils.
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