Incorporation of ESCA Spectroscopy into Undergraduate Science and Engineering Programs

用于化学分析的电子能谱(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，它具有目前在本科生科学和工程实验室中发现的任何仪器所无法比拟的独特能力。这项技术通常用于表征各种材料的表面和亚表面层和界面，从而深入了解它们的元素组成、氧化状态、结构和结合。尽管ESCA是一项久负盛名的技术，在学术界和工业界都得到了广泛的应用，但很少有本科课程教授与它相关的理论，也没有机构将其应用于与本科相关的实验室。在过去，所有的商业仪器不仅价格昂贵(50万美元以上)，而且非常情绪化，需要大量的培训才能操作。随着最近出现了成本更低(200,000美元范围)、方便用户使用的在线检查仪器，ESCA成为常规教学工具的可行性已经确立。学生(化学家和工程师)使用ESCA的潜力很大。对这项技术及其能力的了解使学生了解目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。本项目提供了一台ESCA光谱仪，用于理工科课程。ESCA实验包括六个化学实验室、一个物理实验室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. *