Resonant photoemission spectroscopic studies of Eu2O3 thin film

Abstract

In the present paper, we have investigated the structural and electronic properties of Eu2O3 thin film deposited by pulsed laser deposition technique on Si (100) substrate. The film was characterized by X-ray diffraction and photoemission measurements. X-ray photoemission studies suggest that Eu has 2+ (∼8%) and 3+ (∼92%) valence states in the film. Valence band spectrum of the film shows four features (2 eV, 4.8 eV, 7.7 eV, and 10.4 eV) with the prominent one at 7.7 eV due to the Eu3+ (4f 6) state. Resonance photoemission spectroscopy measurements have been performed in the Eu 4d → 4f photo absorption region, and thus, obtained constant initial state intensity plots suggest that the feature close to the Fermi level (∼2 eV) results from the hybridization of the O 2p and Eu2+ (4f7) states, while other features appearing at higher binding energies are due to the hybridization of the O 2p and Eu3+ (4f6) states.