Simultaneous electron and x-ray analysis and its application in corrosion science

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Abstract
The new generation of scanning Auger electron microscopes permit the acquisition, simultaneously, of both the Auger electron and the x-ray signals excited from a given picture element. Such an instrument is effectively an electron probe microanalyzer working in two depth planes. Addition of an x-ray source provides an XPS facility which is in turn complemented by the simultaneously acquired XRF spectrum. The use of such a dual signal instrument can be well-illustrated by its application in electrochemistry and corrosion science. In pitting corrosion the high spatial resolution and low beam currents permit identification of anodic and cathodic areas by measurement of the anion/cation ratios, whereas the EDXA analysis locates the pitting with depleted zones in the substrate alloy: In marine corrosion, XRF permits the total assay of all mineral layers while XPS enables determination of the layer by layer composition. These and other similar studies are described with the aim of illustrating the way in which a surface analysis is enhanced by knowledge at all times of the underlying composition.

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