1. A method of Auger spectral analysis of an input spectrum, the input spectrum including an Auger spectrum, the method comprising: conditioning the input spectrum to generate a normalized input spectrum; determining a statistical correlation between the normalized input spectrum and one or more stored elemental spectral signatures; and characterizing species in the input spectrum from the statistical correlation, wherein said conditioning the input spectrum includes estimating a background signal of non-Auger electrons in the input spectrum and subtracting the estimated background signal from the input spectrum.