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Abstract In order to examine the spectra of films formed during the polarization of an Fe–17 Cr alloy in 0.5 M sulphuric acid, it is necessary to separate the overlapping spectral components of the film and substrate. The procedure for peak separation and background subtraction as proposed by Hansen and Tougaard was followed and is described in detail for the present case. On applying the procedure it was observed that the results obtained are sensitive to the value used for the film thickness in calculating the contribution from the substrate to the overall spectrum. Thus, the film thickness can be regarded as an outcome of the procedure. The elastic XPS spectrum of the film remaining after peak separation and background subtraction was compared to that obtained after subtraction of a Shirley background followed by curve fitting of the substrate contribution.
Norgren et al. (Wed,) studied this question.