Bonding and Electronic Structure of Phosphides, Arsenides, and Antimonides by X-Ray Photoelectron and Absorption Spectroscopies

Ternary arsenides Zr(Si As1−)As with PbCl2-type (0 ≤x≤ 0.4) and PbFCl-type (x= 0.6) structures

“…To probe the electronic structure further by experimental means, XPS spectra may be examined. In principle, shifts in the binding energy (BE) of the core-line peaks should reflect differences in the valence state of an atom within a solid [36]. However, detection of the small BE shifts that are characteristic of highly covalent solids such as these arsenides has only been made possible through recent improvements in XPS spectrometer resolution.…”