Auger electron spectroscopy
abbr., AES
(rus. электронная Оже-спектроскопия otherwise Оже-спектроскопия abbr., ЭОС)
— a method to analyse the structure of matter by the electron energy spectra resultant from the Auger effect when a sample is exposed to high energy beams
– of quanta, ions and electrons.

Description
This method is based on the Auger effect, discovered by French physicist Pierre Victor Auger in the 1920s. In this phenomenon, when a sample is exposed to a beam of high-energy
emitted electrons, the example shown in Fig. a, the binding energy of levels involved can be estimated as follows
, where
is the work function of material. It is worth noting that the equation gives a rough estimate, since it does not take into account that electrons are emitted from an ion, and not from a neutral atom. Ionisation of atoms leads to a shift of electronic levels down, which naturally affects the energy of the emitted Auger electrons. The Auger spectroscopy method is widely used in R&D labs, as well as in the chemical and metal industries and microelectronics due to the high surface sensitivity, the obtainability of quantitative information, and the usability of the method.



Illustrations
Authors
- Zotov Andrey V.
- Saranin Alexander A.
Sources
- D. Briggs, M. P. Seah Practical Surface Analysis: Auger and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. - Wiley, 1990. - 657 pp.
- Oura K. et al. Surface Science: An Introduction // Springer, 2010 - 452 pp.