UPS and XPS studies of Fe80-xNixB20metallic glasses

Abstract
The authors report photoemission measurements of the core levels and valence bands of the metallic glasses Fe82B18 and Fe80-xNixB20 (for x=10, 30 and 40). In agreement with previous experiments they observe a broadening of the full width at half maximum of the Fe82B18 valence-band spectra in comparison with those of pure iron. Interaction between boron valence electrons and iron d electrons, which is presumably responsible for the broadening, involves shifts of iron and nickel d bands in the valence band of Ne-Ni-B alloys. Consequently, the respective contributions of iron and nickel are visible in the valence-band spectra. The shift of the boron 1s level to higher binding energies for high nickel content indicates that the chemical bonding interaction is stronger between boron and nickel than between boron and iron.