Photoelectron spectrum from a thin organic layer exposed to intense x rays.

When an organic layer on a conducting substrate is exposed to intense x rays, such as in scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM), the photoelectron spectrum for the exposed area shows a kinetic energy shift towards higher binding energy due to the accumulation of local charges. We present experimental evidence that in the thin organic layer of approximately 100 nm thickness in organic light-emitting devices, there exists an unshifted spectral component besides the local-charging-shifted spectral component. This finding enabled us to reliably investigate the chemical structures of organic layers using SPEM, which was shown to be advantageous in obtaining the space-resolved chemical structural information of a specimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]