Quantitative Analysis of trace levels of surface contamination by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Part II: Systematic uncertainties and absolute quantification

Published

December 1, 2017

Author(s)

Nadir S. Faradzhev, Shannon B. Hill, Cedric J. Powell

Abstract

We discuss analyses of trace levels of surface contamination using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The problem of quantifying common sources of statistical and systematic uncertainties for these measurements is formulated in terms of the needs of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, but the results and conclusions are applicable to a broad range of XPS applications. We quantify the systematic uncertainties introduced by particular cases of overlapping peaks on different substrate structures by simulating measured spectra with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Database for the Simulation of Electron Spectra for Surface Analysis (SESSA). One example demonstrates that the relative atomic concentrations of trace elements such as S, P, or halogens on a Ru surface could be dramatically overestimated if the fitting of the overlapping Ru 3d and C 1s peaks excludes the contribution from carbon. We also show how spectra generated by SESSA can be compared with measured spectra to determine absolute amounts of surface impurities on layered samples of the type used for EUV lithography. We provide estimates of the total uncertainty for such measurements by considering the systematic limitations of SESSA and the statistical uncertainties of the measurements. The same procedure can be employed for other multilayered materials. Finally, we describe two approaches for converting XPS detection limits for an elemental impurity in an elemental matrix to the corresponding detection limits for the corresponding impurity as a thin film on the surface of the matrix material.

Citation

Surface and Interface Analysis

Volume

49

Issue

12

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.6289

Local Download

Keywords

detection limits, quantitative analysis, surface contamination, systematic uncertainties, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, xps

Citation

Faradzhev, N. , Hill, S. and Powell, C. (2017), Quantitative Analysis of trace levels of surface contamination by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Part II: Systematic uncertainties and absolute quantification, Surface and Interface Analysis, [online], https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.6289, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=923480 (Accessed December 21, 2024)