109 research outputs found
Adsorbate induced refacetting: Pb chains on Si(557)
The structure on the atomic and mesoscopic scale of Pb adsorbed on Si(557) has been investigated by high-resolution low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED). Depending on Pb coverage in the range between 1.2 and 1.6 monolayers (ML), formation of various facets [(112), (335), (223), and a meta-stable (557) orientation] is induced by the Pb layers. The facet orientation in general does not coincide with the macroscopic orientation of the (557) surface. After an initial annealing step to 600 K, starting with 1.2ML of Pb, this new vicinality can be tuned gradually and reversibly even at temperatures below 180 K by further adsorption, but also by desorption of Pb. Superstructures of the Pb layers on the terraces were identified on the most stable (223) facets. Here parts of the devil's staircase and the stripe-incommensurate (SIC) phases known from Si(111) surfaces (Yakes et al 2004 Phys. Rev. B 69 224103) develop. A new mechanism for facet formation with different orientations, based on avoidance of step decoration by adsorbed Pb, is proposed
Scaling of the Hysteresis Loop in Two-dimensional Solidification
The first order phase transitions between a two-dimensional (2d) gas and the
2d solid of the first monolayer have been studied for the noble gases Ar, Kr
and Xe on a NaCl(100) surface in quasi-equilibrium with the three-dimensional
gas phase. Using linear temperature ramps, we show that the widths of the
hysteresis loops of these transitions as a function of the heating rate, r,
scales with a power law r^alpha with alpha between 0.4 and 0.5 depending on the
system. The hysteresis loops for different heating rates are similar. The
island area of the condensed layer was found to grow initially with a t^4 time
dependence. These results are in agreement with theory, which predicts alpha =
0.5 and hysteresis loop similarity.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Revte
Towards a first-principles theory of surface thermodynamics and kinetics
Understanding of the complex behavior of particles at surfaces requires
detailed knowledge of both macroscopic and microscopic processes that take
place; also certain processes depend critically on temperature and gas
pressure. To link these processes we combine state-of-the-art microscopic, and
macroscopic phenomenological, theories. We apply our theory to the O/Ru(0001)
system and calculate thermal desorption spectra, heat of adsorption, and the
surface phase diagram. The agreement with experiment provides validity for our
approach which thus identifies the way for a predictive simulation of surface
thermodynamics and kinetics.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures. Related publications can be found at
http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm
Oxidation of graphene on metals
We use low-energy electron microscopy to investigate how graphene is removed
from Ru(0001) and Ir(111) by reaction with oxygen. We find two mechanisms on
Ru(0001). At short times, oxygen reacts with carbon monomers on the surrounding
Ru surface, decreasing their concentration below the equilibrium value. This
undersaturation causes a flux of carbon from graphene to the monomer gas. In
this initial mechanism, graphene is etched at a rate that is given precisely by
the same non-linear dependence on carbon monomer concentration that governs
growth. Thus, during both growth and etching, carbon attaches and detaches to
graphene as clusters of several carbon atoms. At later times, etching
accelerates. We present evidence that this process involves intercalated
oxygen, which destabilizes graphene. On Ir, this mechanism creates observable
holes. It also occurs mostly quickly near wrinkles in the graphene islands,
depends on the orientation of the graphene with respect to the Ir substrate,
and, in contrast to the first mechanism, can increase the density of carbon
monomers. We also observe that both layers of bilayer graphene islands on Ir
etch together, not sequentially.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Manuscript revised to improve discussion,
following referee comments. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physical
Chemistry C, Feb. 11, 201
Interwire coupling for In(4x1) /Si(111) probed by surface transport
The In/Si(111) system reveals an anisotropy in the electrical conductivity and is a prototype system for atomic wires on surfaces. We use this system to study and tune the interwire interaction by adsorption of oxygen. Through rotational square four-tip transport measurements, both the parallel (σ||) and perpendicular (σ⊥) components are measured separately. The analysis of the I(V) curves reveals that σ⊥ is also affected by adsorption of oxygen, showing clearly an effective interwire coupling, in agreement with density-functional-theory-based calculations of the transmittance. In addition to these surface-state mediated transport channels, we confirm the existence of conducting parasitic space-charge layer channels and address the importance of substrate steps by performing the transport measurements of In phases grown on Si(111) mesa structures.DFG/FOR/170
Anomalous thickness dependence of the Hall effect in ultrathin Pb layers on Si(111)
The magnetoconductive properties of ultrathin Pb films deposited on Si(111)
are measured and compared with density-functional electronic band-structure
calculations on two-dimensional, free-standing, 1 to 8 monolayers thick Pb(111)
slabs. A description with free-standing slabs is possible because it turned out
that the Hall coefficient is independent of the substrate and of the
crystalline order in the film. We show that the oscillations in sign of the
Hall coefficient observed as a function of film thickness can be explained
directly from the thickness dependent variations of the electronic
bandstructure at the Fermi energy.Comment: 4 pages incl. 3 figures, RevTeX, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Theoretical study of O adlayers on Ru(0001)
Recent experiments performed at high pressures indicate that ruthenium can
support unusually high concentrations of oxygen at the surface. To investigate
the structure and stability of high coverage oxygen structures, we performed
density functional theory calculations, within the generalized gradient
approximation, for O adlayers on Ru(0001) from low coverage up to a full
monolayer. We achieve quantitative agreement with previous low energy electron
diffraction intensity analyses for the (2x2) and (2x1) phases and predict that
an O adlayer with a (1x1) periodicity and coverage of 1 monolayer can form on
Ru(0001), where the O adatoms occupy hcp-hollow sites.Comment: RevTeX, 6 pages, 4 figure
Unoccupied electronic structure and momentum-dependent scattering dynamics in Pb/Si(557) nanowire arrays
The unoccupied electronic structure of quasi-one-dimensional reconstructions of Pb atoms on a Si(557) surface is investigated by means of femtosecond time- and angle-resolved two-photon photoemission. Two distinct unoccupied electronic states are observed at E-EF=3.55 and 3.30 eV, respectively. Density functional theory calculations reveal that these states are spatially located predominantly on the lead wires and that they are energetically degenerated with an energy window of reduced electronic density of states in Si. We further find momentum-averaged lifetimes of 24 and 35 fs of these two states, respectively. The photoemission yield and the population dynamics depend on the electron momentum component perpendicular to the steps of the Si substrate, and the momentum-dependent dynamics cannot be described by means of rate equations. We conclude that momentum- and direction-dependent dephasing of the electronic excitations, likely caused by elastic scattering at the step edges on the vicinal surface, modifies the excited-state population dynamics in this system. © 2015 American Physical Society.DFG/FOR/170
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