The UHV (ultrahigh vacuum) system of the spectrometer is a four-chamber system consisting of load lock (1), transfer (2), preparation (3) and analysis chamber. This prototype was designed by the company SPECS GmbH, Berlin, Germany, so that it meets the special requirements of various research areas of the TU Wien.

The monochromatic X-ray source (u-Focus 350, Al Kα (4)) allows the X-ray beam to be focused to diameters between 500 μm and 40 μm. The analyser system (5) consists of a Phoibos 150 WAL with 2D delay line detector, which, in addition to the detection of the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons, also obtains angle-dependent information from each measurement. For measuring valence electrons, there is also an UV-lamp (6) on the system.

The samples can be heated in the analysis chamber by means of electron impact heating and cooled by liquid nitrogen. An argon ion source allows the cleaning of the sample surface and the recording of depth profiles. For non-conductive samples, a flood gun is available for charge compensation.