Dual Mode Kelvin Probe: featuring Ambient Pressure Photoemission Spectroscopy and Contact Potential Difference

We describe a novel dual-mode Kelvin probe featuring ambient pressure Photoemission Spectroscopy (PES), which yields information on the absolute work function (Phi) of a metal and the Ionisation Potential (IP) of a semiconductor, coupled with a high resolution Contact Potential Difference capability which can be extended to Surface Photovoltage measurements. The relative energy resolution are 50 meV for PES and 1-3 meV for CPD. To surmount the limitation of electron scattering in air the incident photon energy is rastered rather than applying a variable retarding electric field as is used UPS. We propose a mechanism of atmospheric ion generation and show that for the metal photoresponse obeys Fowler Theory. The relationship between CPD and photoelectric threshold is a useful tool in characterizing the electrical behavior of materials. We illustrate this with native oxide covered Cu and n-type Si. Further we show that the photoresponse can be used to generate the near Fermi-level Density of States (DOS) in Iron and Nickel-Phthalocyanine. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.