Description and operating characteristics of PHI VersaProbe XPS instruments

This paper presents the characteristics and operating modes of the PHI VersaProbe family of scanning x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) microprobe instruments in detail to support accurate referencing in scientific publications and to provide readers with instrumental context often missing in research articles. The PHI VersaProbe is a commercial laboratory-based, multitechnique XPS system designed for spatially resolved surface analysis of a wide range of materials under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. An overview of the instrument's architecture, component geometries, and tables of key geometry as well as operator-selected parameters are provided. The paper details hardware and software configurations across multiple instrument generations and various data acquisition modes. Raw data from PHI VersaProbe instruments, collected from sputter-cleaned silver and polyethylene terephthalate samples, are included in the Surface Science Spectra submission. Figures throughout the paper compare performance characteristics across multiple instrument generations—PHI VersaProbe 4, PHI VersaProbe III, PHI VersaProbe II, and PHI VersaProbe I—that highlight how analyst-controlled variables such as analyzer pass energy influence analyzer energy resolution. Information that needs to be reported on experiments performed using the PHI VersaProbe is also discussed.