The use of an electron flood gun when adopting monochromatic AgLα radiation for the XPS analysis of insulators

To combat the problem of specimen charging when analysing insulators with a high energy monochromatic AgLα x‐ray source for XPS in the VG ESCA3, the application and use of a low energy electron flood gun is investigated. It is found that individual specimens can require widely differing ‘optimum’ conditions for the satisfactory management of surface charging. However, the use of an accelerating voltage of at least 6 V, together with an emission current of at least 0.25 mA, appears to be satisfactory for the majority of specimens. It is concluded that an electron flood gun, when properly set‐up, can play an important role in gaining chemical state information from non‐conducting materials using XPS, though it is noted that the use of secondary binding energy referencing may still be necessary.