Surface Relaxations in Quantum Confined Pb
- Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
- ORNL
The relationship between electronic and atomic structure of quantum confined objects is a key issue in nanoscience. We performed low-energy electron diffraction to determine the surface relaxations of ultrathin Pb films on Si(111)7 x 7 with thicknesses ranging from four to nine atomic layers. The results indicate a contraction of the first interlayer spacing d{sub 12} for all films. The d{sub 12} contraction exhibits a small bilayer modulation as a function of thickness, indicative of a quantum size effect. The oscillatory relaxations furthermore suggest an interesting correlation with the work function oscillations predicted from density functional theory [Wei and Chou, Phys. Rev. B 66, 233408 (2002)] and can be understood qualitatively on the basis of the jellium model.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 976001
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 72; ISSN 1098-0121
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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