Auger Electron Spectroscopy in high vacuum: Nanocharacterisation in the Scanning Electron Microscope

It is generally regarded as impossible to carry out Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) analysis in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) due to the high ambient gas pressure in an SEM. This is because standard electron energy analysers such as the Concentric Hemispherical Analyser (CHA) or Cylindrical Mirror Analyser (CMA) are devices that acquire data in a serial manner that can last up to few minutes. This is considered too slow for high vacuum (10−6mbar) and a previously cleaned surface would be re-contaminated before a spectrum could be completed. This has led to AES being traditionally carried out under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) environment. We report on two devices for fast acquisition of AES data characterising nanoscale objects by the use of AES in an SEM.