Valence Band and Core Levels of Ce₅Ni₂Si₃Crystal Studied by X-ray Photoemission Spectroscopy

Abstract

The crystal of Ce5Ni2Si3 was prepared by the Czochralski method. The X-ray photoemission spectroscopy was measured for the valence band and the core levels. Based on the Ce(3d) doublet and its satellites a small value of the hybridization parameter of the f -states with the conduction electrons ∆ = 4 meV and the f -occupancy n f close to 1 were found. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy shows that the region between 0 and 3 eV is predominated by the Ni(3d) and Ce(4f ) peaks. Some features of the multiplet structure of the Ce(4f ) states are also visible close to the Fermi level.

Influence of chemical composition on the X-ray photoemission, thermopower, specific heat, and magnetic properties of CeNi2(Si1-yGey)2

“…10b), two distinct peaks at binding energies of 853.5(1) eV for Ni 2p 3/2 and 870.7 (1) eV for Ni 2p 1/2 are observed for all samples. These peaks positions are in accordance with those reported for other Ce-Ni compounds [27]; however, the peaks are shifted towards higher binding energy relative to the metallic Ni, suggesting a partial filling of the Ni 3d band due to a strong hybridization between Ni 3d, Ce 4f, Si 2p, and Ge 2p states [28]. In addition, only weak satellites of the Ni 2p peaks can be observed in Fig.…”