Quantitative x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy: Simple algorithm to determine the amount of atoms in the outermost few nanometers

It is well known that due to inelastic electron scattering, the measured x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy peak intensity depends strongly on the in-depth atom distribution. Quantification based only on the peak intensity can therefore give large errors. The problem was basically solved by developing algorithms for the detailed analysis of the energy distribution of emitted electrons. These algorithms have been extensively tested experimentally and found to be able to determine the depth distribution of atoms with nanometer resolution. Practical application of these algorithms has increased after ready-to-use software packages were made available and they are now being used in laboratories worldwide. These software packages are easy to use but they need operator interaction. They are not well suited for automatic data processing and there is an additional need for simplified quantification strategies that can be automated. In this article we report on a very simple algorithm. It is a slightly more accurate version of our previous algorithm. The algorithm gives the amount of atoms within the outermost three inelastic mean free paths and it also gives a rough estimate for the in-depth distribution. An experimental example of its application is also presented.