Multiple Auger Decay at Resonant Photo-Excitation in Carbon Thin Films

Abstract

We use resonant photoemission at the C1s edge to study the electronic structure of HOPG, graphene flakes and monolayer graphene. We find remarkable differences in the profile of the Auger decay channels, which we attribute to an additional multiple-Auger with a three-hole final state. A prerequisite for the appearance of this decay mechanism is the existence of localized excitonic states, which cause the appearance of the multiple Auger decay. We use those effects to identify the existence and the quantity of such defect states within the p*-band regime in carbon thin films, because the intensity of the three-hole Auger decay is varying with the defect density of the carbon films. We find that the appearance of the multiple Auger decay is different for multilayer and monolayer graphene. In particular the interaction of impurities leads to broadening of the C1s core levels. The three-hole Auger decay spectroscopy is a new method to detect such contaminations with a high sensitivity.