Substitution of rare-earth ions for Ca in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y is known to cause a
metal-insulator transition. Using resonant photoemission we study how this
chemical substitution affects the electronic structure of the material. For the
partial Cu-density of states at E_F and in the region of the valence band we
observe no significant difference between a pure superconducting sample and an
insulating sample with 60% Pr for Ca. This suggests that the states responsible
for superconductivity are predomi- nately O-states. The partial Pr-4f density
of states was extracted utilizing the Super- Koster-Kronig Pr 4d-4f resonance.
It consists of a single peak at 1.36eV binding energy. The peak shows a
strongly assymetric Doniach-Sunjic line- shape indicating the presence of a
continuum of electronic states with sharp cut off at E_F even in this
insulating sample. This finding excludes a bandgap in the insulating sample and
supports the existance of a mobility gap caused by spatial localization of the
carriers. The presence of such carriers at the Pr-site, between the CuO_2
planes shows that the electronic structure is not purely 2-dimensional but that
there is a finite interlayer coupling. The resonance enhancement of the
photoemission cross section, at the Pr-4d threshold, was studied for the Pr-4f
and for Cu-states. Both the Pr-4f and the Cu-states show a Fano-like resonance.
This resonance of Cu-states with Pr-states is another indication of coupling
between the the Pr-states and those in the CuO_2 plane. Because of the
statistical distribution of the Pr-ions this coupling leads to a non-periodic
potential for the states in the CuO_2 plane which can lead to localization and
thus to the observed metal-insulator transition.Comment: Gziped uuencoded postscript file including 7 figures Scheduled for
publication in Physical Review B, May 1, 1995
