X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of bulk glassy Se under Ar ion bombardment

It has been found that Ar ion bombardment produces reversible changes in the XPS structure of the valence band of glassy Se. The result of ion bombardment is that the 4 p bonding and non-bonding peaks merge to give a single broad peak at a binding energy similar to that of the non-bonding peak. This merger of the bonding and non-bonding peaks occurs in density of state calculations when the dihedral angle between adjacent bonds is allowe to take any angle. It is concluded, therefore, that ion bombardment introduces a random dihedral angle into the glassy structure, which subsequently relaxes to give the fixed dihedral angle, but with a random direction which density of states calculations and diffraction work indicate as the structure of the glass.