BOND DISTRIBUTION AND STRUCTURE OF AMORPHOUS-GERMANIUM NITROGEN ALLOYS

The Ge 3d core levels of sub-stoichiometric amorphous germanium-nitrog en (a-GeN) alloys are studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS ). The nitrogen concentration in tile samples, as determined from nucl ear reaction analysis (NRA), is allowed to vary from zero to approxima te to 3 x 10(22) atoms cm(-3). For the whole series of samples both, t he chemical shift and the bonding distribution are studied as a functi on of the nitrogen concentration in tile alloys. The chemical shift pe r Ge-N bond is also investigated using different methods to deconvolut e core level energy spectra, and found to be approximately (0.5 +/- 0. 1) eV. Furthermore, the present study shows that the Ge-N bond distrib ution. as obtained from the analysis of Ge 3d core level data, is in r elatively good agreement with the random bonding model (RBM).