Abstract
THE study of surface phenomena is in large part dependent on spectroscopic techniques that are sensitive to only the outermost few layers of the material under consideration. A variety of such techniques are now available, some of which also have the benefit of high spatial resolution1–3. Here we show that metastable atoms—that is, atoms in long-lived excited states—can be used as a sensitive surface probe with high spatial resolution. In contrast to electrons or photons, metastable atoms cannot penetrate into a solid; instead, they are de-excited readily following interaction with the surface electronic orbitals4,5. The de-excitation process is accompanied by the emission of electrons, the energy spectrum of which provides fundamental information about the electronic properties of the surface. High spatial resolution (in the present case, about 5 μm) is achieved by detecting electrons that have been emitted from only a small area of the sample. As the metastable atoms have only thermal kinetic energies, they are essentially nondestructive, making them ideally suited to probing fragile surfaces such as organic layers and biological specimens.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Turner, D. W. Chem. in Britain 25, 797–800 (1989).
Griffith, O. H., Habliston, P. A. & Birrel, G. B. Ultramicroscopy 36, 262–274 (1991).
Munakata, T., Ishikawa, E., Kinoshita, I. & Kasuya, T. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2572–2578 (1991).
Conrad, H., Ertl, G., Küppers, J. & Wang, S. W. Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 1082–1086 (1979).
Munakata, T., Ohno, K. & Harada, Y. J. chem. Phys. 72, 2880–2881 (1980).
Plummer, I. R. et al. Nature 303, 599–601 (1983).
Hagstrum, H. D. Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 1050–1053 (1979).
Harada, Y. & Ozaki, H. Jap. J. appl. Phys. 26, 1201–1214 (1987).
Ohno, K. & Harada, Y. in Theoretical Models of Chemical Bonding (ed. Maksic, Z. B.) Part 3 (Springer, Berlin, 1991).
Swan, A., Marynowski, M., Franzen, W., El-Batanouny, M. & Martini, K. M. Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1250–1253 (1993).
Telieps, W. & Bauer, E. Ultramicroscopy 17, 57–66 (1985).
Leasure, E. L., Mueller, C. R. & Ridley, T. Y. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 46, 635–637 (1975).
Fahey, D. W., Parks, W. F. & Schearer, L. D. J. Phys. E13, 381–383 (1980).
Masuda, S., Hayashi, H. & Harada, Y. Phys. Rev. B42, 3582–3585 (1990).
Masuda, S., Hayashi, H. & Harada, Y. J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 51, 167–171 (1990).
Pasinszki, T. et al. J. phys. Chem. (submitted).
Höchst, H., Goldmann, A., Hüfner, S. & Malter, H. Phys. Status Solidi B76, 559–568 (1976).
Battye, F. L., Goldmann, A. & Kasper, L. Phys. Status Solidi B80, 425–432 (1977).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harada, Y., Yamamoto, S., Aoki, M. et al. Surface spectroscopy with high spatial resolution using metastable atoms. Nature 372, 657–659 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/372657a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/372657a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.