Measurement of data for and the development of an ISO standard for the energy calibration of X-ray photoelectron spectrometers

New values have been developed for the reference peak energies for the levels Au 4f7r2, Ag 3d5r2and Cu 2p3r2 used for calibrating the binding energy scales of X-ray photoelectron spectrometers. These values are traceable to previous values but are homogenised between X-ray sources by calculation and are now referenced to the Ag Fermi edge instead of the Ni Fermi edge used earlier. These values, which are now extended to include monochromatic Al X-rays, are typically 0.04 eV lower than previous values. These reference energies are included in a calibration procedure to allow the evaluation of the binding energy repeatability, the energy scale linearity, the energy offset and its drift with time. Evaluation of these parameters then permits the energy scale to be calibrated within a user-defined tolerance limit over the binding energy range 0 to 1040 eV by a simple regular procedure. Crown Copyright q1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved