Open AccessSurface Modification and Subsequent Fermi Density Enhancement of Bi(111)
Author(s) -
Kuanysh Zhussupbekov,
K Walshe,
Brian Walls,
A. N. Ionov,
С. И. Божко,
A.S. Ksenz,
Rais N. Mozhchil,
Ainur Zhussupbekova,
K. Fleischer,
Samuel Berman,
I. N. Zhilyaev,
David D. O’Regan,
I. V. Shvets
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physical chemistry. c./journal of physical chemistry. c
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 289
eISSN - 1932-7455
pISSN - 1932-7447
DOI - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c07345
Subject(s) - scanning tunneling microscope , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , monolayer , fermi level , bilayer , ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy , density functional theory , low energy electron diffraction , chemistry , spectroscopy , photoemission spectroscopy , scanning tunneling spectroscopy , materials science , molecular physics , condensed matter physics , electron diffraction , electronic structure , electron , diffraction , nanotechnology , computational chemistry , nuclear magnetic resonance , optics , physics , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , membrane
Defects introduced to the surface of Bi(111) break the translational symmetry and modify the surface states locally. We present a theoretical and experimental study of the 2D defects on the surface of Bi(111) and the states that they induce. Bi crystals cleaved in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) at low temperature (110 K) and the resulting ion-etched surface are investigated by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) as well as spectroscopy (STS) techniques in combination with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. STS measurements of cleaved Bi(111) reveal that a commonly observed bilayer step edge has a lower density of states (DOS) around the Fermi level as compared to the atomic-flat terrace. Following ion bombardment, the Bi(111) surface reveals anomalous behavior at both 110 and 300 K: Surface periodicity is observed by LEED, and a significant increase in the number of bilayer step edges and energetically unfavorable monolayer steps is observed by STM. It is suggested that the newly exposed monolayer steps and the type A bilayer step edges result in an increase to the surface Fermi density as evidenced by UPS measurements and the Kohn-Sham DOS. These states appear to be thermodynamically stable under UHV conditions.