Abstract
The Sn/Ge(111) interface presents at room temperature an ordered 3 × 3 R(30°) surface reconstruction, formed by a submonolayer array of tin adatoms, which reversibly transforms upon cooling into a 3×3 structure. Recently, it has been claimed that the formation of a commensurate charge density wave is responsible for this transition. We present high-resolution synchrotron radiation photoemission results which support, instead, that the driving force of the transition is rehybridization: fluctuations in the tin adatom type of bonding freeze-in at low temperature to yield the static long-range ordering of the 3×3 ground state which is governed by an ideal 1/2 ratio of the sp 3/sp 2 hybridization balance.
Published Version
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