The National Centre for Electron Spectroscopy and Surface Analysis

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X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is recognised as one of the most important and widely applicable techniques for the surface characterisation of materials. Within a sampling depth of a few nm it can provide information on elemental composition, chemical speciation, the depth distribution of species and electronic structure. It is applicable to an enormous range of different materials and with its nanoscale sampling depth is particularly suited to the study of nanostructured materials such as carbon nanotubes, inorganic nanorods and catalyst particles. It is also an important tool for characterising the surfaces of biomaterials and a wide range of thin films, modified surfaces, metals, alloys, oxides, semiconductors, polymers and composites. The National Centre for Electron Spectroscopy and Surface Analysis (NCESS) at Daresbury Laboratory provides access for EPSRC users to a world-class x-ray photoelectron spectrometer - a Scienta ESCA300. This proposal seeks funding for the operation of the facility for 4 years from April 2007 and for the further refurbishment and development of the ESCA300 spectrometer in several important directions. The proposed programme will sustain a high performance facility for photoelectron spectroscopy that is completely unique on the world stage and that is vital to the research programmes of a diverse and thriving user community.The high power rotating anode and monochromatised Al K alpha (hv = 1486.6 eV) x-ray source of the NCESS ESCA300 combined with its high transmission hemispherical analyser and multichannel detector ensure that it is a superb instrument for low energy XPS. In addition, its high energy Cr K beta (hv =5946.7 eV) and Cu K alpha (hv = 8047.8 eV) x-ray sources combined with the high kinetic energy range of the hemispherical analyser provide a unique capability for the high energy XPS of materials. The NCESS user community have given overwhelming support to this proposal in the form of research proposals to use the facility in the 4 years from April 2007. The majority of the user groups particularly require the high performance and unique characteristics of the NCESS ESCA300 and without access to the spectrometer their research would not be possible. For a small number of user groups it is the only XPS spectrometer to which they have access, and the open and transparent access arrangements together with the reliability of the instrument and the dedicated scientific support of the staff are crucially important to the success of their research.The user research contributions received in support of this proposal indicate a total requirement of between 290 and 320 days access per year and the facility will undertake to deliver 160 days per year. From April 2007 there will be at least 5 EPSRC grants in place with a total value of over 1.5M, specifically requiring access to NCESS. The continued funding of NCESS will ensure that EPSRC can meet its commitments to these and other grant holders while attracting an increasingly diverse UK and international user community. With the run down of the Daresbury SRS towards closure in December 2008 and the absence of soft x-ray photoemission beamlines on DIAMOND until 2011, NCESS will be the only UK national facility capable of soft x-ray electron spectroscopy for several years to come. Furthermore, for the foreseeable future NCESS will be the only UK based facility, and one of only a few international facilities, capable of high energy XPS, i.e. capable of using photons with hv > 5000 eV. Taken together these factors lead to the expectation of a high and increasing demand for access to the facility.