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.

Electronic Structure of NiO(100) with Adsorbed Na

Adsorption of Na on single crystals of NiO(1 0 0) at room temperature has been investigated via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and measurements of work-function changes. The drastic changes in the valence band spectra upon Na deposition are assigned to a chemical reaction between Na and O where metallic Ni is left as by-product. At short deposition times, Na mainly acts as an inert electron donor, and at these coverages no dispersion is observed in the angle-resolved photoemission spectra which indicates that the electronic states are localized. The measurements were performed both for a polished and an in-situ cleaved NiO crystal