Abstract
The goal of this article is to provide basic in formation on the physical principles and applications of the methods mentioned below. Chemical composition belongs to the basic characterization of materials used in many technological applications.
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) are widely used for the investigation of chemical composition as well as of chemical state of solid surfaces. X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) is a technique providing information on the detail crystallographic structure of single-crystal surfaces and epitaxial thin films and bonding geometry of ordered adsorbates.
Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) is more sensitive for measurement of low concentration species comparing to the electron spectroscopy techniques and, in addition, it permits elemental and compositional depth profiling.