XPS study of clean metal sulfide surfaces

XPS spectra of PbS, FeS2, CuFeS2, Cu1.87S and ZnS surfaces prepared by scraping in ultra-high vacuum were measured. The binding energies reported can be used as reference data in more applied research, where these sulfides treated under different conditions are studied. Problems encountered in measuring poorly conducting samples, such as ZnS, with the XPS technique are also shortly discussed.