Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is a common analytical technique used specifically in the study of
surfaces and, more generally, in the area of
materials science. Underlying the spectroscopic technique is the
Auger Effect, as it has come to be called, which is based on the analysis of energetic
electrons emitted from an excited
atom after a series of internal relaxation events. The Auger effect was discovered independently by both
Lise Meitner and
Pierre Auger in the 1920’s. Though the discovery was made by Meitner and initially reported in the journal Zeitschrift für Physik in 1923, Auger is credited with the discovery in most of the scientific community.[1] Until the early 1950’s Auger transitions were considered nuisance effects by spectroscopists, not containing much relevant material information, but studied so as to explain anomalies in
x-ray spectroscopy data. Since 1953 however, AES has become a practical and straightforward characterization technique for probing chemical and compositional surface environments and has found applications in
metallurgy, gas-phase chemistry, and throughout the
microelectronics industry.[2-5]
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