The Prevac soft x-ray spectroscopy end-station was built in Germany at a cost of ~$A1m and completed in 2004. It was used at the NSRRC in Taiwan until the Australian Synchrotron became operational. This end-station has been designed and constructed to meet stringent vacuum requirements (samples need to be able to reach a pressure of 10-10 mbar before we allow the beamline valve to be opened). In particular, the vacuum system is as carbon-free as possible. The end-station is comprised of multiple connected UHV chambers allowing for the preparation and subsequent analysis of samples without exposure to air. In addition the end-station allows for investigation of specimens that must be maintained at a low temperature while they are under vacuum, in order to retain moderately volatile material that might otherwise sublime or desorb.
Detectors
SPECS Phoibos 150 Hemispherical Analyser
Retarding Grid Analysers (Partial Electron Yield and Fluoresence Yield modes)
Drain Current
Photodiode
Sample Environment
Ultra High Vacuum (UHV) environment, base pressure 1 × 10-10 mbar
Preparation facilities
Sample cooling to approximately 130K (using LN2)
Flood gun
Ability to transfer samples hot and cold
Rotary distribution chamber
Fast sample entry load-lock
Sample fracture chamber and sample parking chamber
Preparation chamber featuring: electron beam evaporator source, Argon ion sputtering, Quartz crystal monitor, Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), gas handling and introduction system, 4 point probe, Kelvin probe
Click here for information on safe transport and handling of samples.
Data analysis
Data formats
NEXAFS data from beamline software: *.mda, ASCII
XPS data from SPECSlab Prodigy: Delimited text, VAMAS
Analysis software
CasaXPS
Qant