Esca Microscopy on Elettra: Chemical Characterization of Surfaces and Interfaces With Sub-Micron Spatial Resolution

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe chemical sensitivity, spatial resolution and data acquisition rates achieved with the scanning photoelectron microscope built at ELETTRA, a third-generation synchrotron facility in Italy has made it an indispensable tool for surface analysis of laterally heterogeneous materials. The information on the composition and evolution of coexisting phases, mass transport and other surface processes occurring on a microscopic scale can be obtained by combining elemental and chemical mapping with core and valence level photoelectron spectromicroscopy with spatial resolution better than 0.15 μm and energy resolution better than 0.5 eV. Selected recent results will be presented to illustrate the capabilities and some of the possible applications of synchrotron radiation spectromicroscopy for characterization of complex spatially heterogeneous materials and studies of dynamic processes related to the interface chemical structure.