Fabian Calleja et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 123003 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/11/12/123003
Crystallographic and electronic contribution to the apparent step height in nanometer-thin Pb(111) films grown on Cu(111)
Fabian Calleja1,4, Amadeo L Vázquez de Parga1,2,3,5, Eduardo Anglada1, Juan José Hinarejos1, Rodolfo Miranda1,2,3 and Felix Yndurain1,2
Show affiliationsThermal roughening of Pb(111) films grown on Cu(111) produces three-dimensional (3D) islands of different number of layers allowing the simultaneous and direct measurement by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of the step height for different thicknesses in real space. The apparent step heights separating adjacent layers show several oscillations with amplitudes of up to 0.8–1.4 Å around the bulk interlayer distance as a function of film thickness. The oscillations have bilayer periodicity with a superimposed longer beating period that produces a phase slip every eight layers. Based on first-principles calculations of Pb(111) free standing slabs, we can identify the relevant electronic states responsible for these quantum size effects. In addition, we can distinguish between geometric and electronic contributions to the apparent step heights measured on the STM images.
- PACS
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68.55.A- Nucleation and growth
68.37.Ef Scanning tunneling microscopy (including chemistry induced with STM)
68.55.-a Thin film structure and morphology
- Subjects
- Dates
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Issue 12 (December 2009)
Received 14 August 2009
Published 1 December 2009
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Crystallographic and electronic contribution to the apparent step height in nanometer-thin Pb(111) films grown on Cu(111)
Fabian Calleja et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 123003
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Ashutosh Chaturvedi and Zhenghong Lee 2005 Phys. Med. Biol. 50 1405
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A note on the effect of GCM tuning on climate sensitivity
F A-M Bender 2008 Environ. Res. Lett. 3 014001
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