Comparison of different methods for evaluating the transmission function of a two-stage cylindrical mirror analizer in XPS applications

TL;DR

This study compares three methods for evaluating the transmission function of a two-stage cylindrical electron analyzer in XPS, assessing their accuracy through correction of spectra and residual analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a comparative evaluation of established procedures for transmission function assessment in XPS, highlighting their relative effectiveness.

Findings

Different methods yield varying residuals, indicating differences in accuracy.

The correction process improves the quantitative analysis of XPS spectra.

Residual variability helps in objectively rating transmission functions.

Abstract

Three different evaluations of the energy dependence of the transmission-detection function of a two-stage cylindrical electron analyzer have been obtained by resorting to three established procedures. Their relative merits have been tested as follows. First they have been used to correct raw XPS spectra of clean Cu, Ag and Au surfaces. Next, the secondary electron background has been subtracted using Tougaard's method. Finally, the primary electron spectra so obtained have been reanalyzed by peak area measurement in the frame of the modern formalism for quantitative XPS analysis. Ideally a constant residual value should thus be obtained. The variability of these residuals with peak energy allows an objective rating of the initial transmission-detection functions.