Detailed peak fitting analysis of the Zn 2 p photoemission spectrum for metallic films and its initial oxidation stages

The metallic Zn 2 p photoemission spectra hold a complex background that requires individual assignment of Shirley background for each peak comprising the spectra. For this reason, a close fit requires the use of the Shirley‐Vegh‐Salvi‐Castle background‐type under the active background approach . We found that the intensity of the plasmon peaks and their associated background cannot be described through existing energy loss (intrinsic and extrinsic) formalisms. We also analyzed the Zn 2 p and O 1 s spectra for the initial stages of oxide formation at various oxygen exposures. We found that the composition of the oxide layer is ZnO 1.00±0.10 for all exposures, suggesting that our assessment of the primary function of metallic Zn is accurate and can be employed for quantitative studies. We also present a set of parameters to accurately fit and resolve the metallic and oxide Zn 2 p peaks.