Measurement of data for and the development of an ISO standard for the energy calibration of X-ray photoelectron spectrometers

New values have been developed for the reference peak energies for the leve ls Au 4f(7/2), Ag 3d(5/2) and Cu 2p(3/2) used for calibrating the binding e nergy scales of X-ray photoelectron spectrometers. These values are traceab le to previous values but are homogenised between X-ray sources by calculat ion and are now referenced to the Ag Fermi edge instead of the Ni Fermi edg e used earlier. These values, which are now extended to include monochromat ic Al X-rays, are typically 0.04 eV lower than previous values. These refer ence energies are included in a calibration procedure to allow the evaluati on of the binding energy repeatability, the energy scale linearity, the ene rgy offset and its drift with time. Evaluation of these parameters then per mits the energy scale to be calibrated within a user-defined tolerance limi t over the binding energy range 0 to 1040 eV by a simple regular procedure. Crown Copyright (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.