Charge Correction and Why Charge Correction is Required in XPS

Surface science insight note: Charge compensation and charge correction in X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Beatriz Mendoza-Sánchez, Vincent Fernandez, Pascal Bargiela, Neal Fairley, Jonas Baltrusaitis
First published: 14 April 2024 doi.org/10.100...
A series of measurements from an insulating powder is used to illustrate charge compensation during measurements and how charge correction is performed in CasaXPS. The energy scale is calibrated by using the binding energy for an O 1s peak to establish the binding energy scale for five measurements from the same material. An example of manually calibrating a measurement is illustrated within the video as well as a demonstration of how energy calibration can be performed automatically for a set of measurements.

[@umgradanwesha]

Why did you not calibrate the data with the C-1s peak in this case?

[@casaxpscasasoftware4605]

There are varying views on the use of energy calibration for charge compensated spectra.
In my experience, I find energy calibration based on selecting photoemission on "known" chemistry is preferrable to using unknown chemistry. The interaction of adventitious carbon with the material below is too often unknown and requires the fitting of a peak model to identify CH type chemistry. The energy of a component in a peak model with multiple peaks is subject to error, hence I tend to look elsewhere to obtain a consistent energy calibration between different measurements. Energy calibration with high precision is often my motivation for energy calibration. That is, I am less interested in accurate binding energy that precise relationships between the energy of peaks measurement under different conditions.