Theory of Surface States

✍ Scribed by Heine, Volker

• Book ID: 111885425
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Year: 1965
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 882 KB
• Volume: 138
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-899X
• DOI: 10.1103/physrev.138.a1689

✦ Synopsis

The properties of metal-to-semiconductor junctions and of free semiconductor surf'aces are usuaOy explained on the basis of surface states. The theory of the metal contacts is discussed critically, because strictly speaking localized surface states cannot exist in such junctions. However, it is shown that virtual or resonance surface states can exist which behave for practical purposes in the same way. They are really the tails of the metal wave functions rather than separate states. In the past, the length of this tail has often been ignored. Some estimates of its length are made and its consequences pointed out. A semiquantitative discussion is given of various recent data, including the effect of an oxide layer on barrier height, the varia- tion of barrier height with the metal, the work function of a free surface at high doping, and the e6ect of a cesium layer on the work function.