Electronic Characterization of Solid Surfaces

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
At this point it would be presumptuous to suggest either that we understand very much about the electronic structure of solid surfaces or that we can specify in detail exactly what each of our tools for studying such structure is telling us. I think it is fair to say, however, that FES, UPS, and INS do make it possible for us to determine energy level spectra which can with some confidence be ascribed to the resonances of electrons in surface orbitals. It is true that INS is the more surface-selective of the two electron spectroscopies capable of producing data over at least a 10-ev energy range. We have seen intriguing differences between INS and UPS which, when we come to understand them, will most certainly reveal important characteristics of surface electronic structure and greatly expand our ability to distinguish electronic states in the surface from those in the selvedge. Possibly it is not too much to hope that the combined use of INS and UPS with incidence angle as an independent variable will give us information on the geometrical extent of surface orbitals, as well as the net electrical charge and the electric potential gradient in the region of the surface in which the orbitals lie.