Atomic and Electronic Structures of Unreconstructed Polar MgO(111) Thin Film on Ag(111)

Atomic and electronic structures of a polar surface of MgO formed on Ag(111) was investigated by using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Auger electron spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). A rather flat unreconstructed polar MgO(111) 1$\times$1 surface could be grown by alternate adsorption of Mg and O$_{2}$ on Ag(111). The stability of the MgO(111) surface was discussed in terms of interaction between Ag and Mg atoms at the interface, and charge state of the surface atoms. EELS of this surface did not show a band gap region, and finite density of states appeared at the Fermi level in UPS. These results suggest that a polar MgO(111) surface was not an insulating surface but a semiconducting or metallic surface.Comment: 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

The electronic structure of metal/alkane thiol self-assembled monolayers/metal junctions for magnetoelectronics applications

Long-chain alkane thiols use in metal to organic self-assembled monolayer to metal junctions may be limited by orientational disorder, and photoemission studies suggest that several molecular layers may be needed for the dielectric layer to be effective. Several alkane thiols were investigated in a range of junctions areas 10–102 μm2. Top layer contact deposition, activated with Pd clusters resulted in a high yield of junctions that were not electrically shorted and are stable over a wide temperature range. Zerobias anomalies, observed at low temperatures, are attributed to a Coulomb blockade associated with the Pd clusters