EXAFS Determination of Bond Lengths in Zn$\text{}_{1-x}$Fe$\text{}_{x}$S Ternary Alloys

Studies of local atomic structure in the zinc-blende Zn$\text{}_{1-x}$Fe$\text{}_{x}$S (x=0.11-0.50) diluted magnetic semiconductors with the use of the EXAFS technique are reported for the first time. They include the K-edge EXAFS measurements for both cationic elements (Zn, Fe). The experiment was carried out at room temperature in the transmission mode using synchrotron radiation of the DCI storage ring in Orsay, France. A detailed EXAFS analysis for different crystal compositions (x) gave a convincing evidence for a bimodal distribution of the nearest-neighbour interatomic distances in Zn$\text{}_{1-x}$Fe$\text{}_{x}$S within the iron solid-solubility limit. It has also revealed, within the accuracy of this method, constancy of both the nearest-neighbour cation-anion distances (i.e. Zn-S and Fe-S) in the composition range studied.