TY - JOUR A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Knigge, Xenia A1 - Andresen, Elina A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Shard, A.G. A1 - Clifford, C.A. T1 - Composition, thickness, and homogeneity of the coating of core–shell nanoparticles—possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy N2 - Core–shell nanoparticles have attracted much attention in recent years due to their unique properties and their increasing importance in many technological and consumer products. However, the chemistry of nanoparticles is still rarely investigated in comparison to their size and morphology. In this review, the possibilities, limits, and challenges of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for obtaining more insights into the composition, thickness, and homogeneity of nanoparticle coatings are discussed with four examples: CdSe/CdS quantum dots with a thick coating and a small core; NaYF4-based upconverting nanoparticles with a large Yb-doped core and a thin Er-doped coating; and two types of polymer nanoparticles with a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) core with either a poly(methyl methacrylate) or polystyrene coating. Different approaches for calculating the thickness of the coating are presented, like a simple numerical modelling or a more complex simulation of the photoelectron peaks. Additionally, modelling of the XPS background for the investigation of coating is discussed. Furthermore, the new possibilities to measure with varying excitation energies or with hard-energy X-ray sources (hard-energy X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) are described. A discussion about the sources of uncertainty for the determination of the thickness of the coating completes this review. KW - X-ray spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticles KW - Spectroscopy / Instrumentation KW - Spectroscopy / Theory PY - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548305 VL - 414 IS - 15 SP - 4331 EP - 4345 PB - SpringerNature AN - OPUS4-54830 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kim, K.J. A1 - Kim, C.S. A1 - Ruh, S. W. A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Mata-Salazar, J. A1 - Juarez-Garcia, J.M. A1 - Cortazar-Martinez, O. A1 - Herrera-Gomez, A. A1 - Hansen, P.E. A1 - Madesen, J.S. A1 - Senna, C.A. A1 - Archanjo, B.S. A1 - Damasceno, J.C. A1 - Achete, C.A. A1 - Wang, H. A1 - Wang, M. A1 - Windover, D. A1 - Steel, E. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Fujimoto, T. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Terauchi, S. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Jordaan, W.A. A1 - Spencer, S.J. A1 - Shard, A.G. A1 - Koenders, L. A1 - Krumrey, M. A1 - Busch, I. A1 - Jeynes, C. T1 - Thickness measurement of nm HfO2 films N2 - A pilot study for the thickness measurement of HfO2 films was performed by the Surface Analysis Working Group (SAWG) of the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance (CCQM). The aim of this pilot study was to ensure the equivalency in the measurement capability of national metrology institutes for the thickness measurement of HfO2 films. In this pilot study, the thicknesses of six HfO2 films with nominal thickness from 1 nm to 4 nm were measured by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Reflectometry(XRR), X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (XRF), Transmission Electron Spectroscopy (TEM), Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). The reference thicknesses were determined by mutual calibration of a zero-offset method (Medium Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy (MEIS) of KRISS) and a method traceable to the length unit (the average thicknesses of three XRR data except the thinnest film). These reference thicknesses are traceable to the length unit because they are based on the traceability of XRR. For the thickness measurement by XPS, the effective attenuation length of Hf 4f electrons was determined. In the cases of XRR and TEM, the offset values were determined from a linear fitting between the reference thicknesses and the individual data by XRR and TEM. The amount of substance of HfO2, expressed as thickness of HfO2 films (in both linear and areal density units), was found to be a good subject for a CCQM key comparison. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM. KW - Thickness measurements KW - nm films KW - X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy KW - Mutual calibration PY - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0026-1394/58/1A/08016 SN - 0026-1394 VL - 58 IS - 1a SP - 08016 PB - IOP Publishing Lt. CY - Bristol AN - OPUS4-54175 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - Ionic liquid [PMIM]+[NTf2]− (Solarpur®) characterized by XPS N2 - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was performed on the meniscus of a droplet of ionic liquid 1-propyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide [PMIM]+[NTf2]− (Solarpur®) in ultrahigh vacuum. High-resolution spectra of F 1s, O 1s, N 1s, C 1s, and S 2p are presented along with a survey spectrum and the valence band structure. The spectra presented here were generated using monochromatic Al Kα radiation (1486.6 eV). KW - Ionic liquid KW - 1-propyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide KW - X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy PY - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0001518 VL - 29 IS - 1 SP - 014001-1 PB - AVS AN - OPUS4-54335 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cant, D. J. H. A1 - Müller, Anja A1 - Clifford, C. A. A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Shard, A. G. T1 - Summary of ISO/TC 201 Technical Report 23173—Surface chemical analysis—Electron spectroscopies—Measurement of the thickness and composition of nanoparticle coatings N2 - ISO Technical Report 23173 describes methods by which electron spectroscopies, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and synchrotron techniques, can be employed to calculate the Coating thicknesses and compositions of nanoparticles. The document has been developed to review and outline the current state-of-the-art for such measurements. Such analyses of core–shell nanoparticles are common within the literature, however the methods employed are varied; the relative advantages and disadvantages of These methods, and the optimal usage of each may not be clear to the general analyst. ISO Technical Report 23173 aims to clarify the methods that are available, describe them in clear terms, exhibit examples of their use, and highlight potential issues users may face. The information provided should allow analysts of electron spectroscopy data to make clear choices regarding the appropriate analysis of electron spectroscopy data from coated nanoparticle systems and provide a basis for understanding and comparing results from different methods and systems. KW - Electron spectroscopy KW - Core-shell KW - Nanoparticles KW - ISO 23173 KW - XPS KW - Thickness KW - Composition PY - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.6987 SN - 0142-2421 VL - 53 IS - 10 SP - 893 EP - 899 PB - John Wiley & Sons Ltd AN - OPUS4-52976 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cant, D. J. H. A1 - Minelli, C. A1 - Sparnacci, K. A1 - Müller, Anja A1 - Kalbe, H. A1 - Stoger-Pollach, M. A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Werner, W. S. M. A1 - Shard, A. G. T1 - Surface-Energy Control and Characterization of Nanoparticle Coatings N2 - Accurate and reproducible measurement of the structure and properties of high-value nanoparticles is extremely important for their commercialization. A significant proportion of engineered nanoparticle systems consist of some form of nominally core-shell structure, whether by design or unintentionally. Often, these do not form an ideal core-shell structure, with typical deviations including polydispersity of the core or shell, uneven or incomplete shells, noncentral cores, and others. Such systems may be created with or without intent, and in either case an understanding of the conditions for formation of such particles is desirable. Precise determination of the structure, composition, size, and shell thickness of such particles can prove challenging without the use of a suitable range of characterization techniques. Here, the authors present two such polymer core-shell nanoparticle systems, consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene cores coated with a range of thicknesses of either polymethylmethacrylate or polystyrene. By consideration of surface energy, it is shown that these particles are expected to possess distinctly differing coating structures, with the polystyrene coating being incomplete. A comprehensive characterization of these systems is demonstrated, using a selection of complementary techniques including scanning electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic light scattering, differential centrifugal sedimentation, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. By combining the results provided by these techniques, it is possible to achieve superior characterization and understanding of the particle structure than could be obtained by considering results separately. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Core-shell KW - XPS KW - Size KW - Thickness KW - Damage PY - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c02161 VL - 124 IS - 20 SP - 11200 EP - 11211 PB - ACS CY - Washington DC AN - OPUS4-50899 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Shard, A. G. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Unger, Wolfgang ED - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan ED - Unger, Wolfgang ED - Shard, A. G. T1 - Introduction N2 - The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive collection of analytical methods that are commonly used to measure nanoparticles, providing information on one, or more, property of importance. The chapters provide up-to-date information and guidance on the use of these techniques, detailing the manner in which they may be reliably employed. Within this chapter, we detail the rationale and context of the whole book, which is driven by the observation of a low level of reproducibility in nanoparticle research. The aim of the book is to encourage awareness of both the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods used to measure nanoparticles and raise awareness of the range of methods that are available. The editors of the book have, for many years, been engaged in European projects and standardization activities concerned with nanoparticle analysis and have identified authors who are experts in the various methods included within the book. This has produced a book that can be used as a definitive guide to current best practice in nanoparticle measurement. KW - Nanoparticles KW - Size distribution KW - Shape KW - Chemistry KW - Coating KW - Concentration KW - Standards KW - Charge KW - Characterisation PY - 2020 SN - 978-0-12-814182-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814182-3.00001-8 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-50166 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Unger, Wolfgang A1 - Shard, A. G. ED - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan ED - Unger, Wolfgang ED - Shard, A. G. T1 - Conclusions and perspectives N2 - This chapter briefly summarizes the methods selected within this book for the characterization of nanoparticles with regard to commonly accessible properties: nanoparticle size and size distribution, shape, surface area, surface charge, aggregation state, structure, chemical composition, surface chemistry, and nanoparticle number concentration. Current progress of measurement and analysis, as far as possible according to standard operation procedures, has been the focus of this work. A number of new and less commonly used methods have not been covered, and we outline some of these in this chapter. Future challenges such as automated measurement and analysis, read-across approaches for the prediction of properties, knowledge of measurement uncertainties, the need for certified reference materials, and the necessity to complement measurements methods to obtain more reliable results are covered, and the unmet measurement requirements for real-world nanoparticles are described. KW - Physicochemical characterization KW - Standard operation procedures KW - Data correlation KW - Method development KW - Trends PY - 2020 SN - 978-0-12-814182-3 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814182-3.00006-7 SP - 527 EP - 534 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-50167 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B. P. A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Spencer, J. A1 - Carmona-Carmona, A. J. A1 - Bushell, A. A1 - Herrara-Gómez, A. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Thissen, A. A1 - Thomas, A.G. A1 - Britton, A.J. A1 - Bernasik, A. A1 - Fuchs, A. A1 - Baddorf, A. P. A1 - Bock, B. A1 - Thellacker, B. A1 - Cheng, B. A1 - Castner, D.G. A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Valley, D. A1 - Willneff, E.A. A1 - Smith, E.F. A1 - Nolot, E. A1 - Xie, F. A1 - Zorn, G. A1 - Smith, G.C. A1 - Yasukufu, H. A1 - Fenton, J. L. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Counsell, J..D.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Gaskell, K.J. A1 - Artyushkova, K. A1 - Yang, L. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Eguchi, M. A1 - Walker, M. A1 - Hajdyla, M. A1 - Marzec, M.M. A1 - Linford, M.R. A1 - Kubota, N. A1 - Cartazar-Martínez, O. A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Satoh, R. A1 - Schroeder, S.L.M. A1 - Avval, T.G. A1 - Nagatomi, T. A1 - Fernandez, V. A1 - Lake, W. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Yoshikawa, Y. A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene N2 - We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (<90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼4.9% and ±8.8%, respectively; low pass energy spectra perform worse than the global average, in terms of systematic deviations, due to diminished count rates and signal-to-noise ratio. Differences in absolute offset are attributed to the surface roughness of the LDPE induced by sample preparation. We further assess the usability of LDPE as a secondary reference material and comment on its performance in the presence of issues such as variable dark noise, x-ray warm up times, inaccuracy at low count rates, and underlying spectrometer problems. In response to participant feedback and the results of the study, we provide an updated LDPE intensity calibration protocol to address the issues highlighted in the interlaboratory study. We also comment on the lack of implementation of a consistent and traceable intensity calibration method across the community of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) users and, therefore, propose a route to achieving this with the assistance of instrument manufacturers, metrology laboratories, and experts leading to an international standard for XPS intensity scale calibration. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Transmission function KW - Intensity scale calibration KW - Reference spectra KW - Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) PY - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000577 VL - 38 IS - 6 SP - 063208 AN - OPUS4-51655 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reed, B. P. A1 - Cant, D.J.H. A1 - Spencer, S.J. A1 - Carmona-Carmona, A. J. A1 - Bushell, A. A1 - Herrara-Gómez, A. A1 - Kurokawa, A. A1 - Thissen, A. A1 - Thomas, A.G. A1 - Britton, A.J. A1 - Bernasik, A. A1 - Fuchs, A. A1 - Baddorf, A.P. A1 - Bock, B. A1 - Thellacker, B. A1 - Cheng, B. A1 - Castner, D.G. A1 - Morgan, D.J. A1 - Valley, D. A1 - Willneff, E.A. A1 - Smith, E.P. A1 - Nolot, E. A1 - Xie, F. A1 - Zorn, G. A1 - Smith, G.C. A1 - Yasukufu, H. A1 - Fenton, J.L. A1 - Chen, J. A1 - Counsell, J.D.P. A1 - Radnik, Jörg A1 - Gaskell, K.J. A1 - Artyushkova, K. A1 - Yang, L. A1 - Zhang, L. A1 - Eguchi, M. A1 - Walker, M. A1 - Hajdyla, M. A1 - Marzec, M.M. A1 - Linford, M.R. A1 - Kubota, N. A1 - Cortazar-Martinez, O. A1 - Dietrich, P. A1 - Satoh, R. A1 - Schroeder, S.L.M. A1 - Avval, T.G. A1 - Nagatomi, T. A1 - Fernandez, V. A1 - Lake, W. A1 - Azuma, Y. A1 - Yoshikawa, Y. A1 - Compean-Gonzalez, C.L. A1 - Ceccone, G. A1 - Shard, A.G. T1 - ERRATUM: “Versailles project on advanced materials and standards interlaboratory study on intensity calibration for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instruments using low-density polyethylene” [J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 38, 063208 (2020)] N2 - The lead authors failed to name two collaborators as co-authors. The authors listed should include: Miss Claudia L. Compean-Gonzalez (ORCID: 0000-0002-2367-8450) and Dr. Giacomo Ceccone (ORCID: 0000-0003-4637-0771). These co-authors participated in VAMAS project A27, provided data that were analyzed and presented in this publication (and supporting information), and reviewed the manuscript before submission. KW - X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy KW - Transmission function KW - Low-density polyethylene PY - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000907 VL - 39 IS - 2 SP - 027001 PB - American Vacuum Society AN - OPUS4-52380 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -