A reassessment of electron escape depths in silicon and thermally grown silicon dioxide thin films

Abstract The escape depths of electrons with kinetic energies of approximately 1150 and 1380 eV in Si and thermally grown SiO 2 thin films have been calculated, using three methods, from X-ray photoelectron spectra of samples which have been characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The most reliable and reproducible escape depths derived in this study are significantly less than the average of those reported in the literature. It is believed that this is due principally to inaccurate characterization of the samples previously used for escape depths measurements.

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