Because of the importance of surfaces and interfaces in many scientific and technological areas, the use of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been growing exponentially. Although XPS is being used to obtain useful information about the surface composition of samples, much more information about materials and their properties can be extracted from XPS data than commonly obtained. This talk describes some of the areas where alternative analysis methods or experimental design can obtain information about the near-surface region of a sample, often information not available in other ways.

Short Biography of the Speaker:

Donald Baer is Laboratory Fellow emeritus at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland WA, USA, where he specialized in the use of surface sensitive techniques to study material surfaces impacting energy and environmentally relevant systems.  He has more than 300 publications. His most recent research focused on understanding reactive properties of nanoparticles in a variety of environments. Since retiring he has worked to address issues related to reliability and repeatability in surface analysis methods. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ASTM International, and the American Vacuum Society and served as secretary of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. Dr. Baer holds a BS degree in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD in Physics from Cornell University. He has received the Albert Nerken Award from the American Vacuum Society, the John Rivière Prize from the United Kingdom Surface Analysis Forum, and a Microscopy Today Innovation Award.