Auger Excitation by Internal Secondary Electrons

Electron-excited Auger spectroscopy, as it is presently applied, utilizes incident beam energies which are normally greater than that corresponding to the maximum ionization cross section. Preliminary measurements indicate that Auger emission at these high primary energies is significantly enhanced due to excitation by internal secondary electrons. This creates a serious problem with respect to the use of Auger spectroscopy as an analytical tool.