Application of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to characterization of Au nanoparticles formed by ion implantation into SiO2

Abstract In X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of Au nanoparticles, the width of 5 d valence band changes with Au particle size. This enables us to estimate the size of Au nanoparticles by using XPS. In this work, the 5 d -band width has been measured for Au nanoparticles formed by ion implantation into SiO 2 . The 5 d -band width is found to be correlated strongly with the Au concentration. As the Au concentration increases, the 5 d -band width becomes larger, indicating that the Au nanoparticles with the larger size tend to be formed in the vicinity of the projected range of Au ions. This correlation agrees very well with the results from transmission electron microscopy.