Charakterisierung der Oberflächenmodifikation von Edelstahlproben nach Elektronen- und Ionenbombardement mittels REM,AES und XPS

The interaction of an inert or reactive gas plasma with the surface of stainless steel was investigated with the aim, to modificate the surface and to influence by this the outgassing rate of the material. This question is especially interesting in applications of these materials in large UHV devices, where a heat treatment of surfaces at the vacuum side is not favourable because of the high energy costs. The investigated samples were exposed to the influence of electrons, argon and oxygen ions either in a DC glow discharge or in a microwave discharge. After this pretreatment the surfaces of the samples were investigated with respect to the topography and the chemical composition (depth profile) by Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). These surface modifications as a result of the different treatments of the samples were correlated with the measurements of the outgassing rate.