Title: Fermi level referencing
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - Fermi level referencing
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.09332
Status: current

Definition
Process for establishing the binding energy scale for a particular sample by assigning the kinetic energy corresponding to the Fermi level, as determined by analysis of the spectrum obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy or ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, as the point of zero binding energy.

Related Term
- vacuum level referencing: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09361

Source
- PAC, 2020, 92, 1781. 'Glossary of methods and terms used in surface chemical analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2020)' on page 1826 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0404)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09332/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09332/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09332/xml

Citation: Citation: 'Fermi level referencing' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09332
License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.
Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .
Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-18T11:49:18+00:00