Electron spectroscopy refers to a group formed by techniques based on the analysis of the energies of emitted electrons such as photoelectrons and Auger electrons. This group includes X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which also known as Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA), Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). These analytical techniques are used to identify and determine the elements and their electronic structures from the surface of a test sample. Samples can be solids, gases or liquids.
Chemical information is obtained only from the uppermost atomic layers of the sample (depth 10 nm or less) because the energies of Auger electrons and photoelectrons are quite low, typically 20 - 2000 eV. For this reason, electron spectroscopy techniques are used to analyze surface chemicals.