Soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of Fe2P(0001)

The electronic structure of Fe2P(0001) has been investigated by photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) utilizing synchrotron radiation. In the valence band (VB) spectra, an Fe 3d-P 3p hybrid band (main band) was observed at 0-3 eV independent of photon energy, and satellites were observed at 4.5 and 7 eV at hν < 55 eV. The satellites showed a resonant behavior around the Fe 3p threshold, and are associated with the photoemission process leading to two-hole bound final states. The slight Ar+ ion sputtering (1 kV, 5 min) induced little change in VB spectra, while core-level PES study showed that the P atoms in the surface region were selectively removed. This suggests that the stabilization of the metal sites due to the bonding with P atoms is ineffective on Fe2P(0001), unlike the situation reported earlier for Ni2P.