Photoemission study of the stainless steel surface interacting with oxygen

Oxidation behavior of stainless steel surface was investigated at 4508C in oxygen partial pressure of 1 10ÿ9 Torr using surface-sensitive photoemission spectroscopy (PES). At the initial stage of oxidation, a layer mixed with metallic chromium and oxygen existed on top of Cr2O3 layer, showing relatively high oxygen concentration compared to the Cr2O3 layer. The valence-band electronic structure of the oxide ®lm was hardly affected by the presence of impurities such as Mn and Fe. Attenuation of chromium satellite peaks was observed when the oxide ®lm contained metallic chromium. The authors propose that the attenuation might stem from the screening of charge excitations by free carriers from the metallic chromium. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved