Solid State Effects in the Auger Electron Spectra of Magnesium, Zinc and Cadmium

High resolution KLL Auger electron spectrum from magnesium, L 2,3 M 4,5 M 4,5 spectrum from zinc, and M 4,5 N 4,5 N 4,5 spectrum from cadmium have been measured for both vapour and solid phases using electron impact excitation. In order to observe in detail solid state effects in these Auger spectra and to minimize the contribution of instrumental differences, the measurements for the two phases were carried out with the same spectrometer. From decomposition of the line groups into individual lines was obtained line broadening on going from vapour to solid, (0.20 ± 0.10) eV for magnesium, (0.45 ± 0.10) eV for zinc and (0.47 ± 0.10) eV for cadmium. The kinetic energy shifts of the line components between vapour and solid were found to be (16.0 ± 0.5) eV, (13.7 ± 0.5) eV, and (12.2 ± 0.5) eV for magnesium, zinc, and cadmium, respectively. The calculated vapour-metal Auger energy shifts using Shirley's extra-atomic relaxation model are in agreement with our experimental results.