Note: binding energy scale calibration of electron spectrometers for photoelectron spectroscopy using a single sample.

The feasibility of calibrating the binding energy scale for photoelectron spectroscopy using a single sample without sputter cleaning was investigated. By measuring the Fermi level of a Au film with both monochromatic Al Kα (hν = 1486.7 eV) and He Iα (hν = 21.22 eV), the binding energy scale was simply and accurately calibrated. This method is found to yield binding energy values for the Cu 2p(3/2), Ag 3d(5/2), and Au 4f(7/2) peaks that agree with the standard tabulated values defined in International Organization for Standardization 15472 to within ±0.02 eV.