Complete elimination of the secondary electron background in Auger spectra using Time of Flight Positron Annihilation Induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy

Time of flight- positron annihilation induced Auger electron spectroscopy (TOF-PAES) is a surface analysis technique with high surface selectivity. Almost 95{\%} of the TOF-PAES signal emerges from the topmost layer of the sample due to the trapping of positrons in an image-potential-well before annihilation. In this poster we will present new results that demonstrate how very low energy positron beams can be used together with the time of Flight (TOF) technique developed at The University of Texas at Arlington to obtain Auger spectra that are completely free of secondary electron background.