Bremsstrahlung-excited LMN and LMM Auger spectra of Nb, Mo, Pd, and Ag

Abstract

Abstract The most commonly measured Auger spectra of the 4d-metals correspond to the M 45 N 45 N 45 transitions. However, their lineshapes vary drastically with different chemical environments, since the final-state holes of these transitions reside in the valence band. This dependence and the fact that the spectra are generally rather broad reduce their usefulness in many cases. Auger transitions whose final states involve only core-levels could be used to extract electronic structure information. We present measurements of the high kinetic energy LMM and LMN Auger spectra, excited by Bremsstrahlung, for Nb, Mo, Pd, and Ag. Despite their weak intensities, these spectra are relatively narrow and the various contributions are usually well separated in energy. Assignments of the measured features are made based upon energy and intensity considerations.