VerSoX B07-B: a high-throughput XPS and ambient pressure NEXAFS beamline at Diamond Light Source

David C Grinter; Pilar Ferrer; Federica Venturini; Matthijs A van Spronsen; Alexander I Large; Santosh Kumar; Maximilian Jaugstetter; Alex Iordachescu; Andrew Watts; Sven L M Schroeder; Anna Kroner; Federico Grillo; Stephen M Francis; Paul B Webb; Matthew Hand; Andrew Walters; Michael Hillman; Georg Held

doi:10.1107/S1600577524001346

VerSoX B07-B: a high-throughput XPS and ambient pressure NEXAFS beamline at Diamond Light Source

J Synchrotron Radiat. 2024 May 1;31(Pt 3):578-589. doi: 10.1107/S1600577524001346. Epub 2024 Mar 26.

Authors

David C Grinter¹, Pilar Ferrer¹, Federica Venturini¹, Matthijs A van Spronsen¹, Alexander I Large¹, Santosh Kumar¹, Maximilian Jaugstetter², Alex Iordachescu³, Andrew Watts¹, Sven L M Schroeder⁴, Anna Kroner¹, Federico Grillo⁵, Stephen M Francis⁵, Paul B Webb⁵, Matthew Hand¹, Andrew Walters¹, Michael Hillman¹, Georg Held¹

Affiliations

¹ Diamond Light Source, Diamond House, Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom.
² Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
³ University of Manchester, Manchester M19 3PL, United Kingdom.
⁴ School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
⁵ School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, United Kingdom.

Abstract

The beamline optics and endstations at branch B of the Versatile Soft X-ray (VerSoX) beamline B07 at Diamond Light Source are described. B07-B provides medium-flux X-rays in the range 45-2200 eV from a bending magnet source, giving access to local electronic structure for atoms of all elements from Li to Y. It has an endstation for high-throughput X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure (NEXAFS) measurements under ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) conditions. B07-B has a second endstation dedicated to NEXAFS at pressures from UHV to ambient pressure (1 atm). The combination of these endstations permits studies of a wide range of interfaces and materials. The beamline and endstation designs are discussed in detail, as well as their performance and the commissioning process.

Keywords: NEXAFS; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; XPS; ambient pressure; high throughput.

open access.

Grants and funding

SLMS thanks the Royal Academy of Engineering, Diamond Light Source and Infineum UK Ltd for financial support of the Bragg Centenary Chair. DCG, PF, SK and GH thank the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for funding (grant No. 101017928) (HYSOLCHEM).