Auger electron spectroscopy and its application to surface studies

Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is becoming increasingly used for the chemical analysis of solid surfaces. An introduction to the atomic Auger effect is given and the modifications introduced by a solid state environment are examined. The article contains a brief discussion on instrumentation and some of the results obtained from a number of solids are reviewed. The potential of AES as a quantitative technique is considered, and the method is related to other methods of surface chemical analysis