Damage limit

{
  "id": "MLC-T-CHM-002852",
  "term": "Damage limit",
  "field": "Chemistry",
  "definition": "The maximum dose of incident radiation or particle flux that a sample can withstand during surface analysis before irreversible changes to its chemical composition or physical structure occur. Exceeding this limit can lead to artifacts in the analytical data, such as bond breaking, sputtering, or chemical reduction. This parameter is especially relevant in techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).",
  "subject": "Analytical Chemistry",
  "see_also": [
    "static limit"
  ],
  "references": [
    "PAC, 2020, 92, 1781. 'Glossary of methods and terms used in surface chemical analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2020)' on page 1802 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0404)"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/chemistry/damage-limit/"
}