Co 2p-3d resonant photoemission spectroscopy of CoSb3

High-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (HRPES) has been performed in the Co 2p core excitation region on thermoelectric materials of CoSb3 with the skutterudite crystal structure. At the Co 2p3/2-3d peak, a photoionization cross-section of the Co 3p states becomes extremely larger than that at the Co 3p-3d peak. Co 2p3d3d, 2p3p3d, 2p3s3d, 2p3p3p and 2p3s3p Auger structures and plasmon satellites are recognized. It has been confirmed that the resonant photoemission process is less important in CoSb3. The hν-dependence of the spectra suggests that the Co 3d electrons in CoSb3 can be treated as the one-electron model rather than the many-body particle model, which is consistent with the covalency of CoSb3