The effect of Coster–Kronig transition on the Auger-photoelectron coincidence spectroscopy spectra of early 3d-transition metals

Abstract

The singles L23–M45M45 Auger-electron spectroscopy (AES) spectrum of early 3d-transition metal can be fitted by a weighted sum of the density of the single-hole states and that of the two-hole states, broadened by the initial L23-hole lifetime width, respectively (in the present paper we denote the atomic shells Lx, My, and Nz by LX, MY and NZ, respectively). With increasing occupancy of the 3d band the probability of creating the two-hole states by the L23–M45M45 Auger transition and the L2–L3M45 Coster–Kronig (CK) transition increases. However, the M45 hole created by the CK transition is delocalized and becomes decoupled (screened out) from the L3-hole decay so that the L3M45 two-hole state “decays” to the single L3-hole state before the L3-hole decays. Thus the singles AES spectrum by the L2–L3–M45(M45) CK-transition preceded Auger transition and the singles one by the L3–M45(M45) Auger-transition overlap. We can study the M45-hole dynamics by Auger-photoelectron coincidence spectroscopy because the coincidence spectral lineshape depends on the dynamics of the M45 hole created by the CK transition.