STUDY OF Ba CORE LEVEL BINDING ENERGIES IN A YBa2Cu3O~7 THIN FILM

Abstract

A thin film of superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O ~7 (YBCO) system (Tc ~ 89 K ) has been studied by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the core level electronic structure. The Ba 3d and 4d core level XPS spectra show three binding energy components with the high binding energy component originating from the non-superconducting surface of the system. The role of oxygen ordering/disordering has been discussed to explain the origin of the other two bulk-dependent components. An attempt has been made to resolve some of the discrepancies in the Ba core level spectra reported earlier.