Biopolymers and Polymer Sciences

The purpose of the work is to show possibilities of a joint electron spectroscopy of Auger Electrons (AES) and of energy losses on valence electrons (EEES) for analysis of the structural-chemical and phase state of 2D or sub-nanometric coatings. The composition, thickness, growth mechanism and electronic energy structure of coatings were determined according to the AES data. In addition, the structural-phase state and the local electronic spatial structure of the coating were determined according to the EELS data. The choice of the optimal probing depth (0.25 nm) has been ensured the mutual additivity of analysis by two methods and its adaptation to the sub-nanometric thickness of coatings. It is shown that EELS is very sensitive method for analysis of local valence electron density of atoms and that the variation of the energy of the primary beam and of parameters the coating (the thickness of the coating, the arrangement of adatoms-markers, the coating deposition regimes), as well as the subtraction of the contribution from the substrate, make possible to increase informativity of the AES-EELS analysis of subnanometric coatings and structural state of their interface.