Oxygen adsorption and the surface electronic structure of GaAs (110)

The surface electronic structure of cleaved GaAs (110) is found to be very sensitive to small amounts of adsorbed oxygen. For example, adsorbing oxygen on only a few percent of the surface Ga or As atomic sites can produce changes of a factor of two in the surface electronic structure. Thus, long range effects must be involved, and these are associated with rearrangement of the surface atoms.     

Two-dimensional unoccupied electronic band structure of clean Cu(110) and (1 × 2) Na/Cu(110)

Using the technique of angle-resolved inverse photoemission, we have measured the dispersion of an unoccupied Cu(110) surface state for the clean Cu(110) surface and for the (1 × 2) reconstructed Na/Cu(110) surface along the symmetry lines. The dispersion of the crystal-induced surface state of clean Cu(110) at 2.05 eV above the Fermi energy at the point of the SBZ is free-electron-like with an effective mass of (1.0 ± 0.2)m_e at the point, which is in good agreement with other experimental results as well as a theoretical calculation. This surface state shifts to 2.5 eV above the Fermi energy for the (1 × 2) phase of Na/Cu(110) with a coverage of 0.25 ML, and the dispersion along the direction is considerably reduced compared to the clean surface. On the other hand, the dispersion of this state for (1 × 2) Na/Cu(110) (0.25 ML) along the direction is close to that of clean Cu(110). We account for these results within a missing-row picture of the Na-induced reconstruction.     

On the electronic structure of cleaved GaAs(110) surfaces exposed to formic acid

GaAs(110) surfaces cleaved in UHV and exposed to HCOOH have been studied by work function measurements (Kelvin method), electron energy loss spectroscopy (ELS) and by low energy electron diffraction (LEED). From the different changes of the work function on n- and p-type material information about intrinsic and extrinsic surface states is derived. In the loss spectra the adsorbed formate species causes a loss near 9 eV. The intensity of the loss near 20 eV generally ascribed to an excitonic transition from the Ga 3d core level into surface states is reduced only by a factor of two after saturation with HCOOH. This might be related to the c(2 × 2) superstructure observed in LEED, which suggests a saturation coverage of half a monolayer.     

Cluster model approach for electronic structure of Si and Ge(111) and GaAs(110) surfaces

For the purpose of exploring how realistic a cluster model can be for semiconductor surfaces, extended Huckel theory calculations are performed on clusters modeling Si and Ge(111) and GaAs(110) surfaces as prototypes. Boundary conditions of the clusters are devised to be reduced. The ideal, relaxed, and reconstructed Si and Ge(111) surfaces are dealt with. Hydrogen chemisorbed (111) clusters of Si and Ge are also investigated as prototypes of chemisorption systems. Some comparison of the results with finite slab calculations and experiments is presented. The cluster-size dependence of the calculated energy levels, local densities of states, and charge distributions is examined for Si and Ge(111) clusters. It is found that a 45-atom cluster which has seven layers along the [111] direction is large enough to identify basic surface states and study the hydrogen chemisorption on Si and Ge(111) surfaces. Also, it is presented that surface states on the clean Si and Ge(111) clusters exist independent of relaxation. Further, the calculation for the relaxed GaAs(110) cluster gives the empty and filled dangling-orbital surface states comparable to experimental data and results of finite slab calculations. The cluster approach is concluded to be a highly useful and economical one for semiconductor surface problems.     

AB initio calculation of the atomic and electronic structure for Sb adsorbed on GaAs(110)

We report results obtained by a systematic study of Sb adsorption on the relaxed GaAs(110) surface, using density-functional theory within the local-density approximation (LDA) and norm-conserving, fully separable, ab-initio pseudopotentials. The GaAs(110) surface is simulated by a slab geometry wherein the atomic structure of the Sb atoms at the preferred adsorption positions and the uppermost substrate layer is optimized by minimizing the total energy, in contrast to previously reported theoretical approaches obtaining the surface bandstructure for given geometrical equilibrium structures. Sb coverages of Q=1/2 and Θ=1 are considered. We give a detailed analysis of the total-energy surface of the Sb/GaAs(110) system and identify stable and metastable adsorption sites. The resulting equilibrium geometries are discussed: We interpret these results in terms of the Sb-Sb interaction within the chains parallel to the [1¯11] direction and of possible structural instabilities in such chains. The atomic positions are compared with results of LEED analysis, stating an overall agreement except the buckling of the chain atoms. The resulting electronic properties (surface bandstructure, photothreshold, Schottky barrier) are discussed within the context of experimental data available from STM, photoemission spectroscopy, etc.     

Quasiparticle corrections to the electronic properties of anion vacancies at GaAs(110) and InP(110)

We propose a new method for calculating optical defect levels and thermodynamic charge-transition levels of point defects in semiconductors, which includes quasiparticle corrections to the Kohn-Sham eigenvalues of density-functional theory. Its applicability is demonstrated for anion vacancies at the (110) surfaces of III-V semiconductors. We find the (+/0) charge-transition level to be 0.49 eV above the surface valence-band maximum for GaAs(110) and 0.82 eV for InP(110). The results show a clear improvement over the local-density approximation and agree closely with an experimental analysis.     

Geometry and electronic band structure of surfaces: the case of Ge(111):Sn and C(111)

We present an ab initio study of two semiconductor surfaces, the α phase of Sn on Ge(111) and the cleavage surface of diamond. The theoretical tools used (density functional theory (DFT) and many-body perturbation theory) are discussed in detail, and the advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches are pointed out. We show that in the case of diamond it is essential to go beyond the DFT single-particle approach, and to introduce quasiparticle effects through the GW approximation. PACS 73.20.-r; 73.20.At; 71.15.Mb     

The epitaxial growth of Fe on GaAs(110): Development of the electronic structure and interface formation

The epitaxial growth of ultra-thin Fe films on GaAs(110) at a substrate temperature of 175° C has been studied by spin-resolved and spin-integrated photoemission with synchrotron radiation. Formation and evolution of the interface region have been followed for incremental Fe coverages Θ between 0.1 and 75 ML. The ordered growth of the overlayer is accompanied by reactive intermixing for metal coverage up to 15 ML followed by further As outdiffusion. The surface is ferromagnetically ordered by 6 ML.     

Electronic states near the band gap for the GaAs(110) surface

The recent theoretical controversy regarding empty surface states at the GaAs cleavage plane is examined by the exact solution of several tight binding models applied to a semi-infinite crystal. We correlate the existence of an empty surface gap state with the anion p/cation p character of this state. This work isolates the specific properties of a Hamiltonian for GaAs which yield band gap states on a relaxed surface and clarifies the essential differences among current theoretical treatments.