Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) is a surface-sensitive analytical technique that is used to determine the elemental composition of a material’s surface. AES is a technique that is widely accepted within the scientific community and is used in a diverse range of materials science and engineering disciplines, such as failure analysis, corrosion science, and catalysis.
AES is based on the principle of the Auger effect. When a material is bombarded with a high-energy electron beam, the electrons in the material are excited and some of them are ejected from the material. The energy of the ejected electrons is characteristic of the element from which they were emitted. This allows the elemental composition of the material to be determined.