High-resolution soft X-ray photoemission study of a Kondo semiconductor and related compounds

Abstract We have performed the bulk-sensitive high-resolution soft X-ray photoemission study of a Kondo semiconductor CeRhAs and related compounds CeNiSn and CePdSn. The comparison of the spectra of polycrystalline CePdSn on the fractured and scraped surfaces show that the fracturing of the samples is much better than the scraping in order to obtain intrinsic photoemission spectra. The Ce 4d core-level spectra show clear differences in the electronic states among the materials.