An experimental study of the electronic structure of anodically grown films on an amorphous Ni78Si8B14 alloy

Films of Ni(OH)(2) and NiOOH grown on a rapidly solidified amorphous Ni78Si8B14 alloy by anodic polarisation were analysed with iPS and the results were compared with those of NiO and of films grown on polycrystalline Ni. SIMS performed on the polarised alloy showed enrichment of Ni at the outermost surface. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of cross-sectional samples showed an absence of crystallinity. The Ni 2p shake up satellite and valence band spectra suggested that NiOOH is characterised bya moreenhanced n-typesemi-conducting behaviour compared to Ni(OH)(2) in agreementwith earlier tunnelling current density measurements performed with scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS). Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.