Valence Band Electronic State of Transition-Metal Silicide TiSi2 Studied by Soft X-Ray Emission Spectroscopy (SXES)

Abstract

A soft X-ray emission spectrum (SXES) due to a transition from the valence band to an electron excited Si-L2, 3 level for TiSi2, a transition metal silicide, has shown a clear sharp peak at hν, photon energy, ∼98 eV. From the SXES study, it is concluded that a fair amount of the Si s-like electronic state is included in the upper half, especially at the Fermi edge, of the valence band density of state (VB-DOS) of TiSi2. This fact is in clear contrast to dominant proposals given so far, where it is claimed that the upper part of the VB-DOS of TMSi's is constructed only by electronic states due to transition metal(d)-Si(p) hybridization.