Methods for surface and thin film preparation and characterization

Introduction to basics and technologies

Miniaturization is the daily challenge for researchers in the field of materials and device design. It is hard to believe, but after all these years Moore's law is still valid. The higher the integration and density of devices, the more important materials surfaces and the interfaces between materials surfaces are. Meanwhile the surface is the device. For this reason methods for preparation of surfaces, deposition techniques for the production of well-defined hetero-interfaces and, last but not least, microscopic, diffraction and analytical methods for structural and chemical analysis of surfaces are of growing importance. This section gives brief introductions into their basics and technological realizations.

The terminology for these methods in surface analysis and metrology are defined by the ISO standards 18115-1:2023 (PDF) (general terms and terms used in spectroscopy), 18115-2:2021 (PDF) (terms used in scanning-probe microscopy) and 18115-3:2021 (terms used in optical interface analysis).

AES, SAM, SEM

Auger electron spectroscopy/microscopy detects the energy distribution of secondary electrons returning from a surface locally for chemical analysis.

Angle-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy detects the energy and angle distribution of photoelectrons to determine the electronic structure of solids.

ARXPS, Depth Profiling, XPD

Angle resolved XPS allows for angle dependent measurements, revealing depth distributions of elements and local structure by photoelectron diffraction

IRRAS and Raman

Inverse Photoelectron Spectroscopy or Bremsstrahlung Isochromate Spectroscopy is a laboratory-based method to analyze unoccupied states

Charge Compensation

Methods to compensate positive or negative charging of insulating sample surfaces during characterization with charged particles, like XPS and SEM.

Thin film deposition techniques allow for controlled growths of thin films either from an atomic/molecular flow or from chemically reactive precursors

Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy can provide information about chemical composition in the bulk of a material, rather than in the surface.

Low Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (LEISS) is the most surface sensitive method for chemical analysis. Only the topmost layer is probed.

Low Energy Electron Diffraction is using surface electron diffraction to characterize surface quality, orientation and geometry

Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction uses electron diffraction to characterize film quality, thickness, cristallinity, orientation and geometry

Low Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM) and Photoelectron Emission Microscopy (PEEM) are the only surface sensitive electron microscopies

Momentum Microscopy

Momentum Microscopy and Electron Momentum Spectroscopy

NAP-LEEM, NAP-PEEM

NAP Low Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM) and Photoelectron Emission Microscopy (PEEM) are the only surface sensitive operando electron microscopies

NAP-XPS and NAP-UPS

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS) are well-established and versatile techniques commonly used...

Surface Preparation

In order to obtain relevant results by cutting edge characterization methods it requires preparation and deposition of well-defined, clean surfaces

Quantum transport

Quantum transport measurements are complex time-critical procedures which look at the behaviour of electrons at low temperatures and in low dimensions

In Reflection Electron Energy Loss Scattering (REELS) the inelastically scattered electrons from a surface are detected for their loss energies

SPM, STM, AFM

Scanning Probe Microscopy are methods using a probe, that interacts with a surface producing high resolution images by surface scanning of the probe

Spin-resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy is the key to characterize magnetic properties of surfaces and correlate them to the electronic structure.

Sputter Depth Profiling

Film Thicknesses of multilayer samples and the depth distribution of elements can be characterized by sputter depth profiling.

XPS, Chemical Mapping

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a widely used method for chemical analysis. By surface imaging or mapping a chemical map can be recorded

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