A NEW METHOD OF DETERMINING THE HARDWARE FUNCTION IN X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract

A new method for instrumentally determining the hardware function in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been developed. This study demonstrates, for the first time, the feasibility of obtaining the hardware function of the spectrometer by supplementing the standard XPS output data with additional information in the form of amplitude distributions of single-electron pulses for each point of the spectrum. The method eliminates the need for subjective criteria in selecting parameters of the XPS spectrum, as encountered in the deconvolution method, for example. The algorithm of the method is based on the analysis of the amplitude distribution function of pulses at each spectrum point using the signal-to-noise ratio criterion. It is shown that the application of this method enables a reduction in the line width of the Cu2p3/2 level from 1.2 eV to 1.0 eV, reduces the Lorentzian contribution, and allows for separation of the feature at the spectrum maximum. This method can be applied to address the challenge of signal selection from noise, as well as in various areas of spectroscopy where the counting of single-electron pulses is utilized, particularly in corpuscular spectroscopy, such as electron and ion spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and raster electron microscopy.