Abstract
Angle dependent x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is often used to determine the thickness of thin overlayers by means of a model assuming a perfectly flat substrate. In this article we analyze the consequences of neglecting roughness effects for a uniform Al2O3 overlayer on a rough Al substrate, through the application of a Monte Carlo algorithm to rough geometries generated by a method for simulation of random fractals. The main result is that the error in calculated thickness—which depends strongly on analyzing angle—nearly vanishes at off-axis angles close to 35°. We apply these findings to previously published XPS data on technical aluminum foils and compare the outcome with an atomic force microscopy based roughness analysis of these foils.
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