microCMA Length, the Long and Short of It

RBD Instruments’ microCMA compact Auger electron energy analyzer is designed to fit on a standard 2.75″ / 70 mm CF flange. This makes it possible to add surface sensitive AES (Auger Electron Spectroscopy) to an existing vacuum chamber, as long as there is an available port.

The standard length of the microCMA analyzer is 11.1″ / 283 mm which works well for most 8″ / 200 mm diameter vacuum chambers. This standard length factors in a Z translator that is used to move the microCMA to the sample for analysis and to retract the microCMA when it is not in use. 

However, what if your flange-to-chamber distance is much longer or much shorter than the standard length? There is a 4.5″ / 114 mm limit on how short the microCMA can be due to the geometry of the analyzer section. For longer flange-to-target distances, the analyzer section can be extended as needed. The photo below shows a short 5″ microCMA and a long 21″ / 533.4 mm microCMA.

microCMA Auger Electron Spectrometer

No matter what your flange-to-target distance is, if you have a 2.75″ / 70 mm flange available, it is possible to add the surface-sensitive analytical AES technique to your chamber. The microCMA and Auger Electron Spectroscopy are especially useful for MBE chambers and other research experiments that deposit thin films and where surface-sensitive elemental analysis is required.

For more information on the microCMA visit RBD Instruments’ website here – microCMA

Auger Spectroscopy

Auger Spectroscopy (AES) is a nondestructive and semi-quantitative surface analysis technique that works well for elemental analysis of surfaces on UHV compatible conductive and semi-conductive materials.  It is well suited for the analysis of thin films and coatings.

This ultra-high vacuum technique has high surface sensitivity (<100 Å) and a low detection limit.  It can detect all elements except hydrogen and helium.

Following are links to a variety of Auger Electron Spectroscopy tutorials which explain in detail the principles of AES, the instrumentation, and the applications:

Wellesley College AES  (pdf)

Hong Kong City EDU AES (pdf)

University of Delaware AES (pdf)

Johns Hopkins University Principles of AES

Auger_Electron Spectroscopy ( Power point download)

RBD Instruments’ microCMA is an affordable compact Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) cylindrical mirror analyzer package which is small enough to add to existing vacuum chambers.  For applications which require elemental information on the top most mono layers of specimens, AES can be the perfect solution. More information…

microCMA

Click on the above image for a short video demo about the microCMA

New AugerScan Feature – Automatic Marking of Multiple Element Peaks

A new feature has been added to AugerScan – the option to automatically mark all the peaks of a particular Auger element when marking the primary peak. With this feature you can mark an element’s primary peak and AugerScan will automatically mark the rest of the element’s peaks and select the primary for atomic concentration.

An Example Using Copper (Cu1)

AugerScan
AugerScan – Marking multiple peaks for copper (Cu1)

In the example above, we’ve selected the carbon (C1), oxygen (O1) and copper (Cu1) peaks. AugerScan automatically marked the additional copper peaks (Cu2, Cu3, and Cu4). When performing an atomic concentration calculation, only the Cu1 peak is selected.

You can of course easily change which peaks are selected for atomic concentration by clicking the “Markers” command from the “Edit” menu. You can also remove selected markers from peaks using this dialog.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marker Selection Dialog

To turn this feature on/off, choose the “Options…” command from the “Data” menu, and select/deselect the checkbox labeled “When Marking and Element, Mark all of its Peaks”.

AugerScan

AugerScan – Marking all Peaks Option

(This feature was originally developed for CMapp, RBD’s software for the microCMA Compact Auger Analyzer)

AugerScan Version 3.3.1

The latest version of AugerScan is available for download. In addition to this new feature, this release includes some bug fixes and improved compatibility with high-dpi displays and Windows 10.