Self-organization of Pb thin films on Cu(111) induced by quantum size effects

Dil, J. Hugo; Kim, Jeong Wong; Gokhale, Shubha; Tallarida, Massimo; Horn, Karsten

doi:10.1103/physrevb.70.045405

Cited by 51 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Because the energy of these quantum well states depends on the film thickness t, the physical properties of the film also vary with t. This is true also for the film stability, because the electronic contribution to the total energy of the film depends on t [3,4]. As a result, films or islands of specific thicknesses can have an enhanced stability over other thicknesses due to QSE effects [3][4][5][6][7][8]. More precisely, preferred films or islands thicknesses with enhanced stability are those for which the energies of the quantum well states are well below the Fermi level [4 -8].…”

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confidence: 95%

Quantum Size Effects in Metal Thin Films Grown on Quasicrystalline Substrates

et al. 2005

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Quantum Size Effects in Metal Thin Films Grown on Quasicrystalline Substrates

et al. 2005

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“…experiments, but with the corrected scheme we propose, it would be of one ML, as reported in other experiments. [7][8][9] In a recent paper 54 concerning Pb/ Cu͑111͒, the energy differences are used to estimate the thickness of the slab to be 22 ML, while the comparison to our calculation suggests that it is only 20 ML.…”

Section: ␦ Correctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11,21-23, 54 We now consider this kind of method and offer an improved formula for their application.…”

Section: A Calculation Of Effective Width With ␦mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-consistent study of electron confinement to metallic thin films on solid surfaces

Ogando¹,

Zabala

Chulkov

et al. 2005

Phys. Rev. B

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All material supplied via Aaltodoc is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user.Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)Self-consistent study of electron confinement to metallic thin films on solid surfaces We present a method for density-functional modeling of metallic overlayers grown on a support. It offers a useful tool to study nanostructures, combining the power of self-consistent pseudopotential calculations with the simplicity of a one-dimensional approach. The model is illustrated for Pb layers grown on the Cu͑111͒ surface. The analysis provides the strength of the electron confinement barriers in thin slabs with accuracy, supporting the interpretation of the quantum well state spectra measured by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. On the other hand, it offers a benchmark to check the simple analytical models commonly used in the literature to study metallic films on semiconducting or metallic surfaces. As a result, some deficiencies are detected in the applicability of those models, which often lead to an overestimation of the number of wetting layers. Finally, an improved formula is proposed.

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“…A photon energy of 24 eV was used, because at this energy Pb has a direct transition just below the Fermi level, 17 such that the cross section for photoemission from quantum well states is enhanced. 18 The band structure calculations were performed within the generalized gradient approximation 19 to density functional theory, using the highly accurate all-electron fullpotential linearized augmented plane-wave ͑FP-LAPW͒ method implemented in the WIEN2k code. 20 The muffin-tin radius was set to 2.5 a.u.…”

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Quantum size effects in quasi-free-standing Pb layers

et al. 2007

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Quantum well states in thin metal films are strongly influenced by the electronic and geometric structure of the underlying substrate. This impedes a comparison to ab initio calculations generally based on free-standing films. Here we show that Pb films deposited on single-crystalline, epitaxial graphite are an excellent approximation to free-standing metal films. We find Pb islands of four monolayer height to be most stable, followed by other even-numbered islands, in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for the formation of preferred island heights. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.75.161401 PACS number͑s͒: 79.60.Dp, 73.21.Fg, 68.55.Jk, 71.15.Ϫm The electronic structure and morphology of ultrathin metal films is a subject of intense scientific and technological interest. In such films, the thicknesses are comparable to the electron coherence length, and quantum well states ͑QWSs͒ may form due to electron confinement in the direction normal to the surface. 1,2 Many physical properties therefore show a strong dependence on layer thickness, and such quantum size effects ͑QSEs͒ have been found to induce, and thus to be reflected in, the oscillation with the thickness of macroscopic properties such as sign and magnitude of the Hall effect, 3,4 reactivity and absorption, 5 the magnitude of the superconducting transition temperature, 6,7 and details of the growth morphology. 8 Moreover, the study of electron confinement in metal films has contributed to an understanding of basic solid-state physics phenomena such as electronphonon coupling. 9 One of the striking consequences of electron confinement is its influence on film growth morphology. Zhang and co-workers have predicted the formation of "critical" and "magic" island heights from a theoretical study of the variation of the total energy with coverage. Their "electronic growth" model 10 has been corroborated by a number of experiments. Such growth morphologies were found to depend sensitively on details of the interface structure. 11 Scanning tunnelling microscopy ͑STM͒ results from the Pb/ Cu͑111͒ system 12 show a variety of preferred island heights, partly depending on the step density of the substrate. Direct proof of the interplay between electronic structure and morphology is derived from the observation of quantum well states in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy ͑ARPES͒. Here an assignment of specific island thicknesses can be obtained through an analysis of photoemission peaks due to quantum well states on the basis of the so-called phase accumulation model. 13 Since the substrate apparently has a strong influence on the development of specific preferred thicknesses, it appears preferable to study metal film growth on a material which exhibits a very weak interaction with the overlayer. This is also advantageous because calculations of metal film behavior rely on free-standing slab models, since the interface of the ͑in general incommensurate͒ substrate/film lattices is difficult to model. Graphite is a material that is known to interact weakl...

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Self-organization of Pb thin films on Cu(111) induced by quantum size effects

Cited by 51 publications

References 26 publications

Quantum Size Effects in Metal Thin Films Grown on Quasicrystalline Substrates

Quantum Size Effects in Metal Thin Films Grown on Quasicrystalline Substrates

Self-consistent study of electron confinement to metallic thin films on solid surfaces

Quantum size effects in quasi-free-standing Pb layers

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