New method for collecting XPS and other spectra: A thought (Gedanken) experiment

We suggest a new approach for collecting data, with accompanying statistical analysis, that could be useful for assessing sample damage in X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and for target detection in XPS imagining. It is based on the concept of the ‘constant signal, variable time’ (CSVT) spectrum that is in many ways the opposite of the traditional approach of collecting ‘variable signal, constant time’ spectra. In many cases, CSVT spectra should allow better visual comparisons of spectra and also for more rigorous statistical analyses based on paired t-tests and sums-of-squares of errors. We discuss the possibility of taking both survey and narrow CSVT spectra and provide a statistical discussion of how the resulting data might be treated. As we have no ability to collect CSVT spectra with our XPS instrument, this paper is a thought (Gedanken) experiment. The ideas presented herein may also be transferable to other spectroscopies.