PNNL

Abstract

It is important to realize that any surface analysis method may alter the specimen in some way. Alterations that complicate the ability to collect the desired information are usually considered damage. Damage (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder. In some cases, analysis-induced changes to a sample will have little or no impact on the information sought. In other cases, similar changes will be totally unacceptable and considered information-destroying damage. The analyst must therefore be able to recognize damage in all its various forms, understand its origins, and be able to compensate for, or limit, its effects on the analysis.