This page gives tables and plots for the Average Matrix Relative Sensitivity Factors (AMRSFs) calculated for Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).

Average Matrix Relative Sensitivity Factors (AMRSFs) have been calculated for the total peak area for:

Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
for K, L, M and N shells for both 5 keV and 10 keV electron beam energies at 30° incidence angle;
and
X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
for all core levels with greater than 17 eV binding energy for both Mg and Al Kα X-rays for instruments operating at the magic angle.

PDF files containing explanatory text, figures and tables containing the Average Matrix Relative Sensitivity Factors can be downloaded using the links below.

• Average Matrix Relative Sensitivity Factors for AES ( PDF 788 KB)
• Average Matrix Relative Sensitivity Factors for XPS ( PDF 1.97 MB)

These are based on the work published for AES by M P Seah and I S Gilmore in Surface and Interface Analysis 26 908-929 (1998) and for XPS by M P Seah, I S Gilmore and S J Spencer in J. Electron Spectroscopy 120 93-111 (2001) and should be used in conjunction with those publications. For AES, the peak areas are those for all of the peaks for ionisation in a given shell (e.g. the L shell including all L1, L2 and L3 originating peaks) after removal of the background. The background is removed by subtracting the background generated by the incident primary electrons, the background arising from the cascade of secondary electrons and the background arising from inelastically scattered Auger electrons. These are described in M. P. Seah and I. S. Gilmore, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 14 1401 - 1407 (1996) and M. P. Seah and I. S. Gilmore in Surface and Interface Analysis 26 815 - 824 (1998). Figure 1 shows an example Auger electron spectrum for copper. For XPS, the peak areas are simpler to measure and require the removal of any X-ray satellites and the background associated with inelastically scattered photoelectrons. Figure 2 shows an example, also for copper, using Tougaard background subtraction as described by M. P. Seah in Surface Science 420 285 - 294 (1999).

Figure 1 - Auger electron spectrum showing the spectrum
after correction of the instrument response and the backgrounds
for the total peak area for the L shell electrons in copper.

Figure 2 - X-ray photoelectron spectrum showing the spectrum for copper using
Al Kα X-rays after correction of the instrument response and the background
for the peak area for the different core electrons in copper.