Software

Tools we build for our own research, free for everyone.

These are programs we wrote for our research and teaching. Anyone can download and use them free of charge, and the source code is on GitHub. There is no installer: unzip and run.

PikaXPS window: peak fitting of an XPS spectrum

PikaXPS. Click the image to view it at full size.

XPS peak fitting · macOS · Windows

PikaXPS

A peak-fitting program for X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A free, modern replacement for XPSPEAK 4.1, with a built-in fit auditor that flags problems in a fit and a reference database that cites a literature source for every value.

No peak limits, no account, no Python to install
Fit auditor: checks a finished fit and points out what looks wrong
Reference database with a literature source for every binding energy
macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows, GPLv3 open source

Windows 64-bit (zip) macOS Apple Silicon (dmg)

The latest version, file sizes and SHA-256 digests are on the GitHub release page.

Site & docs ↗GitHub ↗How to cite ↗

Install notes

Windows Unzip and run PikaXPS.exe. The build is not code-signed, so if SmartScreen appears choose "More info → Run anyway".

macOS Open the dmg, drag PikaXPS to Applications, and right-click → Open the first time. If macOS says the app is damaged, run xattr -cr /Applications/PikaXPS.app in Terminal.

PikaPDF window: a PDF viewer with tabs and highlight annotations

PikaPDF. The interface is in Korean; the app calls itself "PDF 뷰어".

PDF viewer · annotation · Windows

PikaPDF

A small, fast PDF viewer and annotator for Windows. Read like in Acrobat Reader, highlight, add notes and signatures, organize pages and convert. It runs Mozilla's PDF.js inside the WebView2 engine that ships with Windows.

Tabs, search, outline and thumbnails, two-page view; Korean PDFs render cleanly
Highlights, freehand drawing, notes, images, signatures, comments and form filling. Ctrl+S saves into the original file and keeps a backup of the previous version
Delete, extract, reorder, merge and rotate pages
Compress and unlock, export to images, text and Word, convert Office and Hangul documents to PDF
About one second from double-click to the first page

Windows 64-bit (zip)

The latest version, file size and SHA-256 digest are on the GitHub release page.

Requires Windows 10/11 64-bit with the WebView2 runtime (included in Windows 11). Compressing and unlocking use PDF24 Creator; document conversion uses Microsoft Office or Hancom Office when installed. The interface is in Korean.

Project page ↗GitHub ↗

Install notes

Unzip into any folder and run 등록.ps1 with PowerShell to add the viewer to the "Open with" list and create Start menu and desktop shortcuts. Then right-click a PDF → Open with → "PDF 뷰어".

The build is not code-signed, so if SmartScreen appears on first launch choose "More info → Run anyway". To remove it, run 등록해제.ps1 and delete the folder.

Good to know

Free and open sourceBoth programs are released under GPLv3: use them, study them and modify them freely. Source code and earlier versions are in the GitHub repositories.
Personal projectsThese tools were written by lab members for their own research and teaching. They are not official university software, are provided as is, and come with no warranty or liability for problems arising from their use.
Security warnings on first launchThe builds are not code-signed, so Windows and macOS show a warning the first time. Binaries are distributed only through GitHub; to verify a download, compare it with the SHA-256 digest on the release page.
PrivacyNo accounts, no tracking, no ads. At startup each program reads a single notice file from its project site, and that can be turned off in the settings.
Names and iconsThe code is free to reuse, but the names PikaXPS and PikaPDF and their icons identify this project. Please distribute modified versions under a different name.

Questions and bug reports

Please open an issue in the GitHub repository of the program. Your environment and the steps to reproduce help us fix things quickly.
Email:

Citation

If PikaXPS helped a publication, one line in the Methods section is all it takes.

XPS spectra were analyzed using PikaXPS (github.com/taeheekim2024-star/pikaxps).