XPS Investigations of Ni-Fe Alloy and Fe Films

This paper reports the results of experimental investigations into the chemical shifts of Fe 2p, Ni 2p and N 1s in Ni-Fe alloy and Fe films. Through XPS analysis on Ni-Fe film composition, it is known that the binding energy of Fe0 2p increases and the satellite around 859 eV shifts toward lower binding energy with an increasing Ni fraction, instead of a Ni core level shift. Additionally, Fe species are confirmed to be more preferentially oxidized than those of Ni in the Ni-Fe alloy surface. Furthermore, an observed core level shift of N 1s infers that N in iron films formed in nitrogen atmosphere chemically reacts with Fe species even though these films were not made up of iron nitrides.