Work Function and Dipole Barrier of Sputter-Cleaned Fe-Ni Alloy Surfaces

Abstract
The contact potential differences of Fe-Ni alloy surfaces were measured with respect to Au by means of the Kelvin method. The work function of the alloys were obtained from the measured values. The variation of the work function with alloy composition could be explained from the contribution of the surface dipole potential, of which the variation was qualitatively estimated from changes in a tentative Wigner-Seitz cell radius of the alloys estimated from the mean atomic volume and in the electron density at the cell boundary.