


This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. Although the method requires relatively sophisticated instrumentation, many universities, industrial R and D groups, and commercial service laboratories provide access to their instruments on a collaborative or fee for service basis. The basic advantages and disadvantages of the technique are given in Table 1. For these reasons it has been highly recommended and used by biomedical researchers for the analysis of medical polymers. Of all the presently available instrumental techniques for surface analysis, XPS is generally regarded as being the most quantitative, the most readily interpretable, and the most informative with regard to chemical information. Chemical bonding information is also provided. (1) This technique, also called ESCA (Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis), provides a total elemental analysis, except for hydrogen and helium, of the top 10–200 Å (depending on the sample and instrumental conditions) of any solid surface which is vacuum stable or can be made vacuum stable by cooling. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is generally regarded as an important and key technique for the surface characterization and analysis of biomedical polymers.
