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Why is Auger electron spectroscopy unsuitable for many insulating materials?
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A scanning-electron-microscope photograph of pyroxene and plagioclase crystals (the long and the short crystals, respectively) that grew in a cavity in a fragment of Moon rock gathered during the Apollo 14 mission.
Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) is unsuitable for many insulating materials because the technique utilizes a primary beam composed of electrons.
When this electron beam strikes an insulator, it causes a charge buildup on the surface of the material. Unlike conductors or semiconductors, which can effectively conduct away this charge, insulators retain it. This accumulation of charge alters the energy of the emerging Auger electrons, which distorts the data and renders the resulting signal useless for accurate analysis.1