Reconstructed Concentration Depth Profiles from Angle-Resolved XPS using MEM Software

XPS was used to characterize the surface chemistry of layered thin film materials, using monochromated Al Kα (1486.6 eV) X-rays to gain quantitative chemical information from the uppermost 10 nm of the surface. In this study, we illustrate how ARXPS is used as a more surface sensitive approach to probe only the topmost 1-3 nm of a material, and how one can utilize Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) software to recreate a concentration depth profile from the resulting data. How the re-moval of contamination effects the resulting MEM model fit is also explored following gentle sputter cleaning using the GCIS.