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.