Downloaded By: [University of Virginia] At: 14:30 12 June 2007 Radiation Effects, 1982, Vol. 61, pp. 47-72 0033-7579/82/6101-0047$06.50/0 Q 1982 Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Inc. Printed in Great Britain INVITED REVIEW ARTICLE Principles and Applications of Ion-Induced Auger Electron Emission from Solids RAUL A. BARAGIOLA Centro Atdmico Barilochet and Instituto Balseiro, 84OO-Bariloche, Argentina We review critically the field of Auger electron emission from slow ion impact on surfaces (Auger neutralization and deexcitation), and Auger emission from the decay of inner-shell holes created by impact with energetic ions. We show how the inspection of the basic formalism of transition rates for Auger neutralization, reveals the basic physical mechanisms involved, and provides the foundation for the method of Ion Neutralization Spectroscopy (INS) created by Hagstrum and co-workers. We describe the necessary experimental techniques, and show some of the most prominent applications of INS. We then present background information from electron-excited Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), we review the basic physics of inner-shell excitation by energetic light-ions (Born approximation and leading corrections to it), the case of inner-shell electron promotion in heavy ion collisions, and specific solid state effects. Finally, we discuss experimental aspects and specific examples of ion-induced Auger spectra from low Z targets, and point to possible applications. Raul A. Baragiola is research physicist at the Centro At6mico Bariloche and Associate Professor of Experimental Physics at the Instituto Balseiro. He obtained the degrees of Licenciado (1969) and Doctor in Physics (1971) at the Instituto de Fisica Balseiro. He has worked as guest scientist at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) and the Hahn-Meitner Institute (West Germany) and as Visiting Lecturer at the University of Salford (U.K.). His work deals mainly with the interaction of atomic particles with gases and solids, and with surface physics. The main subfields of his research have been electron transfer collisions, energy loss and ranges of fast ions in solids, ion implantation and damage, sputtering, inner-shell excitation, ion back- scattering, ion-electron emission, and electron spectroscopy of surfaces. t Comisibn Nacional de Energia Atbmica. f Comisibn Nacional de Energia Atbmica and Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. 47