Amorphous oxysulfide thin films MOySz (M = W, Mo, Ti) XPS characterization:: structural and electronic pecularities

The present paper reports the XPS study of different amorphous oxysulfides thin films MOySz (M = W, Ti, Mo), prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. It has been shown the coexistence of various environments and formal oxidation numbers for metal atoms. In addition, the observation of several types of sulfur ions has revealed the specific character of such amorphous layers. In order to precise the common features and the differences as a function of the nature of the metal atom, a comparison of the data for the three kinds of thin films has been done. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.