Help & General Information

• About Surface Science Spectra
• System Requirements
• What data to submit?
• Categories of Data Records
• The Submission Cycle
• Submitting a Data Record
• Preparing the AES/XPS Contributors Form
• Submission Illustration
• Calibration Spectra
• Peak Labeling
• Completing Entries
• More Information and Help
• Manufacturer's Data for PHI XPS Instruments
• VAMAS to SSS Data Format

About Surface Science Spectra
Surface Science Spectra (SSS) is a journal and electronic database devoted to the distribution of surface spectroscopy data files. Spectra of any material of scientific and technological interest will be considered for inclusion. This form is for use primarily with XPS, UPS, and AES spectra. Closely related techniques, such as BIS, XAS, and XPD, have also utilized this form. SIMS measurements require a different contributor's form, which may be obtained from the SSS Web site, or by contacting the SSS Editorial Office at sss@jvst.org. Additional techniques will be added later. Return to top.

What Data to Submit?
The SSS database is designed to serve a wide range of needs. The objectives of the database include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. It provides examples of spectra from a wide range of materials that enable researchers and analysts to estimate, or predict, the type and quality of information that may be available from surface analytical techniques for problems they are encountering.
2. It provides a spectral library to allow comparisons of data from one laboratory and instrument to what others have found on different instruments or under different conditions.
3. It provides a spectral library that assists users of surface science data in extracting the most information possible by providing spectra from known materials and systems for comparison.
4. It provides a forum to present complete data sets for information published elsewhere where full presentation of the data was not possible due to space limitations. To best accomplish the first three objectives, the database needs as many data sets as practical from as wide a range of materials as possible. To serve the last objective, submitted data need to satisfy the first three objectives as well as allow a full examination of the data supporting the ideas presented in the original publication.

It should be noted that even though spectra from a particular material have already appeared in SSS, we encourage the submission of data on the same or similar materials obtained from other instruments in order to meet the stated objectives. Remember-not everyone has the latest or highest performance machine. A tremendous amount of good work is being done on older machines and should be featured in the SSS database. Return to top.

Categories of Data Records
Three categories of data records are published in SSS:

• Technical: Data records characterizing complex surfaces that are of technological interest.
• Comparison: Data records characterizing chemically well-defined surfaces that can be used in identifying surface chemistry.
• Reference: Data records that can be used in calibrating energy scales and identifying chemical states of compounds of surfaces.

The Submission Cycle
Submissions to SSS are distributed to recognized experts for peer review before acceptance into the database. Submissions determined to be of sufficient quality or interest to the applied surface science community will be accepted for publication, entered into the AVS database, and prepared for publication in SSS. SSS is an E-first journal: submissions are placed at SSS Online as soon as they are accepted and prepared for publication, with a print version produced for each complete volume. Return to top.

Submitting a Data Record
To submit a data record to SSS, you must:

1. Complete all appropriate sections of this contributor's form. Provide digital data files (ASCII, Excel, or other format) of all spectra, including calibration spectra. WCF has screens for uploading these files. If you want to publish curve-fit plots, please also provide digital curves representing all components of the fit, including any background subtraction.
2. Provide image files for all spectra to be published, showing peak labeling and any other details (e.g. curve fit overlays) exactly as you want them published. Again, WCF has screens for uploading these files.
3. When your submission is complete, notify webmaster@publishinsss.com so the SSS Editorial Office can begin processing.

At least one survey spectrum must be included with each data record to characterize the elements present. Survey scans cannot be obtained with certain experimental techniques (e.g. UPS); in those cases the criteria for determining surface quality must be described. Authors may submit, for inclusion in the electronic database, the full set of spectra necessary to completely characterize the surface, even if the number of spectra is too large to print in SSS. Fields are provided in the AES/XPS Contributors Form to designate which spectra are only for entry into the electronic database. For example, calibration spectra will be entered into the electronic archives as part of the data record but will not necessarily be printed in SSS. Return to top.

Preparing the AES/XPS Web-based Contributors Form
WCF provides a simple tree view to help navigate its several sections. Below is the navigation tree as it appears for a submission with some sections already completed.

• Section A: Authors, Institutions, Overview.
  Includes Abstract and Introduction, Authors, Keywords, References, Acknowledgments. Pertains to entire submission. Also includes a screen where you can upload supplemental files of any kind, and manage which other users can view and/or edit this submission.
• Section B: Specimen Description.
  Complete a separate Section B record for each Specimen in your submission. While not mandatory, you may also enter a Section B record for each of your calibration specimens.
• Section C: Instrument Description.
  Most SSS submissions use only a single Instrument. However, if your submission used more than one Instrument, or two configurations for the same Instrument (e.g. for both XPS and Auger measurements) you should provide a Section C record for each.
• Section D: Calibration Information.
  Enter a table of calibration measurements for each Instrument.
• Section E: Variable Instrument Parameters.
  Provide on Section E for each set of Instrument Parameters used when taking measurements. Typical variable parameters are analyzer resolution and constants, source beam size, source raster size, source energy and strength.
• Section F: Spectrum Parameters.
  Complete a Section F record for each submitted spectrum. WCF Section F screens allow you to upload digital data files and plot image files.
• Section H: Analysis Methods.
  Discussion of data analysis methods, including recommended energy scale shifts for each plotted spectrum.
• Section I: Spectral Features Descriptions.
  A table listing the transitions identified in submitted spectra, with columns for Peak Energy, Peak Width, Peak Amplitude, Sensitivity Factor, Concentration, Peak Assignment and Comments.

(Section G, omitted above, is not in use at this time.) Return to top.

Test cases show that the typical amount of time needed to complete a WCF submission is 2-4 hours–a relatively short period in which to produce a refereed, archival publication. Future submissions should take even less time because WCF will support copying sections from prior submissions to new ones. For example, a number of data items, such as those in Section C that describe the basic characteristics of the spectrometer, will tend to be the same for all submissions of data from a given instrument. Also, the Variable Instrument Parameters section constitutes a profile of how an instrument is set up to take a series of spectra. For most laboratories, only a few entries in this section will change from one data record to another. It might also be noted that the Contributors Form is a useful way to document data records.

One copy of the Spectrum Parameters section is required for each spectrum, including calibration spectra, in the data record. Different copies of the Variable Instrument Parameters section are required, depending on how many instrument configurations were used to take the spectra. As an example, in a typical XPS submission, there would be one Variable Instrument Parameters section (VIPS) for the survey spectrum, one VIPS for the high-resolution spectra, and one VIPS for the valence band spectra. Return to top.

Submission Illustration For example, for a submission with six submitted spectra, two sample treatments, and two instrument configurations, you would complete sections as follows:.

• Section A (Overview)
• Section B (Specimens), two records: one for each sample treatment
• Section C (Instruments), one record
• Section D (Calibration)
• Section E (Variable Instrument Parameters): two records, one for each instrument configuration
• Section F (Spectra): Six records, one for each submitted spectrum. Each Section F record should included an uploaded digital data file and an uploaded image file showing how you wish the spectrum plotted for publication.
• Section I (Table of Spectral Features)

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Calibration Spectra
Because the condition of the instrument used to take the data submitted to SSS directly affects the data, we require that calibration spectra be submitted with all comparison and reference data sets and strongly recommend submission of calibration spectra for technical data sets. With access to the actual calibration data, SSS users can assess the condition of the instrument used to collect the data. Today, only the peak energies that appear in the calibration summary table are used most often from calibration data details. In the future, as more understanding of the techniques is available, the intensity data will be used to allow better quantification. Having the calibration data, such as a survey scan of Cu, Ag, or Au, as part of the SSS data record will facilitate this quantification in the future. One copy of Section B, Specimen Description, must be completed for the calibration sample, and one copy of Section F, Spectrum Parameters, should be completed for each calibration spectrum included in the submission. Return to top.

Peak Labeling
For XPS spectra, label all transitions on the hard copy spectra. Identify the element and transition-optionally including the spin-orbit coupling if the spin-orbit coupling peaks are resolved. Assignment of spectral features due to different oxidation states, shake-up, shake-off, or other satellites should be reserved for the Table of Spectral Features. The valence band and Auger transitions may be identified as a region unless the author wishes to identify specific peaks. For AES spectra, Auger transitions may be identified individually or as a region. Peak energies in the N (E) or derivative spectra should be identified in the Table of Spectral Features. Return to top.

Completing Entries
The information you provide should be complete enough so that the experiment can be reconstructed by SSS readers.

• Level 1: Mandatory entry–An entry must be made, even if the only valid entry is N/A (not applicable). The absence of an entry is not equivalent to entering zero, none, or N/A.
• Level 2: Mandatory entry–An entry must be made unless there are special considerations. Failure to make an entry would be acceptable only if the data record were of such unusual technical importance that it should be archived, even in the absence of some data entries at this level.
• Level 3: Recommended entry–An entry, though not required, is important to readers who wish to have a complete interpretation of the data record.
• Level 4: Recommended entry–An entry allows the most critical uses of the data record.
• Level 5: Optional entry–An entry should be made at the author's discretion (e g., see Field 11, Section A).

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System Requirements
The WCF requires the following browser settings & addins to function properly:

• Javascript Enabled
• Cookies Enabled
• Acrobat PDF reader

• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
• Safari

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