Incorporation of ESCA Spectroscopy into Undergraduate Science and Engineering Programs

化学分析电子能谱（ESCA）（又名x射线光电子能谱）是现代表面分析技术中最发达和最通用的技术之一，其独特的能力超过了目前在本科科学和工程实验室中发现的任何仪器。该技术通常用于表征各种材料的表面和亚表面层以及界面，提供对其元素组成，氧化态，结构和键合的深入了解。尽管ESCA是一种成熟的技术，在学术界和工业界广泛使用，但很少有本科课程教授与之相关的理论，也没有机构将其应用到本科课程相关的实验室中。在过去，所有的商用仪器不仅昂贵（50万美元以上），而且非常不稳定，需要大量的培训才能操作。随着最近成本较低（20万美元左右）、用户友好的在线检测仪器的出现，ESCA成为常规教学工具的可行性已经确立。学生（包括化学家和工程师）利用ESCA的潜力是巨大的。该技术及其功能的知识使学生了解当前正在进行的分析类型，不仅在工业和学术研究实验室，而且在制造设施的地板上。本项目提供一台ESCA光谱仪用于科学和工程课程。ESCA实验被纳入六个化学，一个物理和两个或更多的工程实验室。*

Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) (aka x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) is one of the most developed and versatile of the modern surface analysis techniques and has unique capabilities beyond those of any instrumentation currently found in undergraduate science and engineering laboratories. This technique is routinely used for the characterization of surface and subsurface layers and interfaces of a wide variety of materials, providing insight into their elemental composition, oxidation states, structure, and bonding. Although ESCA is a well-established technique, used extensively in both academia and industry, few undergraduate programs teach the theory associated with it, and no institution has incorporated its use into undergraduate course-related laboratories. In the past, all commercially available instruments were not only expensive ($500,000 and up), but were very temperamental and required extensive training to operate. With the recent advent of lower cost ($200,000 range), user-friendly, instruments designed for on-line inspection, the feasibility of ESCA's becoming a routine teaching tool has been established. The potential for utilization of ESCA by students (both chemists and engineers) is great. Knowledge of this technique and its capabilities gives students an awareness of the types of analyses that are currently being performed, not only in industrial and academic research laboratories, but also on the floor of manufacturing facilities. This project provides one ESCA spectrometer for use in the science and engineering curriculum. ESCA experiments are incorporated into six chemistry, one physics, and two or more engineering laboratories. *