Low-temperature heat capacity of TMS monolayers adsorbed on graphite and MgO+

The heat capacity obtained below 30 K for the tetramethylsilane monolayers, which are adsorbed either on graphite or on the (100) surface of MgO, is analyzed to investigate the vibrational properties. The 2-D Debye temperatures are approximately 60% of the Debye temperature of the bulk solid (γ -phase), reflecting the dimensionality of lattice vibrations. The contributions from the vibrations perpendicular to the surface as well as the librational motions are determined by fitting the experimental heat capacities. All the results are consistent with those obtained from the incoherent inelastic neutron scattering and the molecular dynamics simulation. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.