Diffraction effects in Auger quantitative analysis on III–V compounds

The anisotropy in surface and subsurface ionization due to the primary electron diffraction has been conflictually reported to play a minor or major role in Auger spectroscopy, and the influence of instrumental and physical parameters has been discussed. We report on the effects of incoming beam diffraction on the quantitative analysis of cleaved, sputtered and Cs covered III-V compounds. We show that measurements must be taken into account for crystalline specimen orientation with respect to the incident beam direction.