Photoemission valence-band structure of Hume-Rothery-type metallic glasses

• Published in: Journal of physics. Condensed matter 1990-09, Vol.2 (37), p.7699-7705
• Main Authors: Boyen, H -G, Haussler, P, Baummann, F, Mizutani, U, Zehringer, R, Oelhafen, P, Guntherodt, H -J, Moruzzi, V L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electron and ion emission by liquids and solids; impact phenomena; Exact sciences and technology; Metals. Metallurgy; Photoemission and photoelectron spectra; Physics
• ISSN: 0953-8984; 1361-648X
• DOI: 10.1088/0953-8984/2/37/013

Photoemission spectra of the valence-band of Hume-Rothery-type Ag sub 45 Cu sub 35 Ge sub 20 and Ag sub 37.5 Cu sub 37.5 Ge sub 25 metallic glasses are reported. In the measurements and in contrast to previous measurements on liquid-quenched samples of these alloys any sputter-cleaning procedure is avoided prior to the spectroscopy by vapour quenching the samples in the preparation chamber of the spectrometer. Whereas in the liquid-quenched samples no indications of distinct structure-induced effects in the electronic density of states near E sub F have been observed, in the new samples the existence of a minimum can clearly be seen and so the earlier conclusion is partly corrected by this paper. Structural influences on the density of states exist and can be detected by photoelectron spectroscopy in electronic states with large dispersion such as s and p states. In addition it is shown that the decrease of the density of states towards E sub F cannot be discussed in terms of sp--d hybridization effects as stated previously. Spectra. 30 ref.--AA