The course aims at providing an introduction to the main surface analytical methods and their application to the study of materials.
The following topics will be addressed.

• Introduction to Surface Analysis: definition of solid surface stimulation of solid materials with different means, photons, charged particles; analysis of emitted signals by means of electron spectroscopies; description of surface- capable electron spectroscopic techniques, their relationships with Electron Microscopy; Auger Electron Spectroscopy as a by-product of Secondary Electron Microscopy.
• X-ray stimulation of surfaces, and related analytical techniques: XPS/ESCA (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy/Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis).
• Advanced techniques related to XPS: synchrotron radiation as X-ray source; analytical applications of XAS, EXAFS and XANES; overview of Near-Field techniques, tip-enhanced imaging and spectroscopy techniques (PiFM, NSOM etc)
• Ion spectroscopies: stimulation of secondary ions from solid surfaces; SIMS and MALDI-TOF.