The present paper reports the XPS study of different amorphous oxysulfides
thin films MOySz (M = W, Ti, Mo), prepared by radio frequency magnetron spu
ttering. It has been shown the coexistence of various environments and form
al oxidation numbers for metal atoms. In addition, the observation of sever
al types of sulfur ions has revealed the specific character of such amorpho
us 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. Al
l rights reserved.