Deconvolution of concentration depth profiles from angle resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data

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Abstract
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) can be made more surface sensitive by analysis of photoelectrons at small take-off angles relative to the sample surface. The intensity distribution of these angle-resolved data (ARXPS) has the potential for yielding nondestructively a depth profile of concentration in an extremely narrow surface region. Efforts to quantify ARXPS profiles have had limited success due to problems in deconvolution of the depth-concentration function from the exponential electron flux attenuation function. A new solution is shown based on inverse Laplace transforms. This approach will be compared to other approaches such as matrix inversion, iterative error reduction, and finite-layer analysis. Limitations on the quantitative accuracy of the recovered profiles are shown to be intrinsic to the numerical data reduction itself, thus compounding the effects of experimental imprecision. Examples of deconvoluted profiles from both simulated and actual experimental data sets are presented as illustrations of the potential for recovering a composition depth profile by this method.

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