General specifications between X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy
The different collection angles (smaller in EELS) mean different sensitivity to dipole forbidden transitions.
EELS and XPS are two entirely different techniques - and it should be noted that there are several different ways to conduct both XPS and EELS. Usually, with XPS you are able to identify the elements and their valence states by XPS, while EELS probes excitations such as plasmons, or, depending on the resolution of the instrument, lattice vibrations (see HREELS). However, if the energy loss is large, you may also detect edges in the spectrum related to the excitation of core electrons, so that you may also get elemental information as with XPS. And furthermore, the edge energy may also change with the valence state of the excited electron, so that in principle similar information as with XPS may be obtained by EELS. It should also be noted here that the photoelectrons excited in an XPS experiment also have a secondary structure with inelastic loss peaks that can be associated with plasmons ... However, it strongly depends on the instrumentation used. I would recomment to check textbooks on surface analysis such as Practical Surface Analysis etc. Hope this helps, Dirk
For simple surface analysis (elemental composition, oxidation state etc.) is superior and instrumentally easier with many commercial options.
yes, XPS is a typical surface analysis tool, like Auger electron spectroscopy is, while EELS in a TEM is a transmission method that integrates over the specimen thickness, resulting in an overlap of bulk and surface effects that can often be separated by studies as function of the specimen thickness - collection angles are vastly different (see my note above) but the signals collected are rather similar in origin and interpretation (see Dirk's remarks above), once plural scatterigng effects have been removed from EELS.
Dear Jose Figueroa,
As per Dirk XPS and EELS are two different techniques, recently we verified CuO (Corona) and Cu2O (Core) identified by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). It can be possible to distinguish two different oxidation states based on their line shape .
Prof. Dr. Dirk, it would be more interesting, if you could discuss about depth of transmittance electrons and beam size etc.,
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