Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES, Auger)

Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES, Auger) is a surface-specific analytical technique that utilizes a high-energy electron beam as an excitation source. Atoms that are excited by the electron beam can relax under the emission of "Auger" electrons. AES measures the kinetic energies of the emitted Auger electrons, which are characteristic of elements present at the surface and "near-surface" of a sample.

The electron beam can be "rastered" over a large or small surface area, or it can be directly focused on a small surface feature. This ability to focus the electron beam to diameters of 10nm and less makes AES an extremely useful tool for elemental analysis of small surface features. Moreover, the ability to raster the electron beam over an adjustable surface area provides control over the size of the analytical area. When used in combination with ion sputter sources, AES can perform large- and small-area compositional depth profiling, and when used with Focused Ion Beam (FIB), it is useful for analyzing cross sections.

Evans Analytical Group® (EAG) has unmatched experience handling routine and non-routine Auger analysis requests. For many years, we have applied AES to all kinds of industrial applications. We believe that our experience with many different materials cannot be matched at any competing lab, and there is a great chance that no other laboratory in the world has seen a similar sample variety or has applied AES to a comparable number of analytical problems

This experience benefits all of our customers. Whether we analyze sub-micron particles to determine contamination sources in wafer processing equipment or defects in electronic devices to investigate failure causes, or we use Auger measurements to determine the oxide layer thickness of "electro-polished" medical devices, we tap our broad knowledge base to solve your problem.

View Application Notes

Ideal Uses for Auger Analysis		Relevant Industries for Auger Analysis
Defect analysis Particle analysis Surface analysis Small-area depth profiling Process control Thin film analysis composition		Aerospace Biomedical Data storage Defense Displays Electronics Semiconductor Telecommunications
Strengths of Auger Analysis		Limitations of Auger Analysis
Small area analysis (as small as 30 nanometers) Excellent surface sensitivity Good depth resolution		Standards required for best quantification Insulators are difficult Samples must be vacuum compatible Relatively poor detection sensitivity (0.1 at% at best)

Application Notes