Growth and photoemission spectroscopic studies of ultrathin noble metal films on graphite

Abstract

Growth of Cu, Ag and Au thin films on graphite(0 0 0 1) surface and possible formation of quantum well (QW) states originating due to the confinement of thin film sp electrons within the band gap of graphite along ΓM symmetry direction are investigated using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Higher surface diffusivity and surface energy of Cu on graphite surface led to cluster growth and does not reveal any quantum size effect, while Ag and Au films grow epitaxially in spite of large lattice mismatch. However, better surface ordering has been achieved by growing Ag and Au at low temperature (LT), followed by room-temperature (RT) annealing which are evident from LEED and the presence of sharp Shockley-type surface state (SS) at Fermi level (EF). ARPES study of Ag films on graphite does not show any QW states, whereas Au films demonstrate a very sharp SS, Au bulk bands and well-resolved QW states or resonances. The observed low in-plane dispersions of these Au QW states or resonances are compared with the dispersions obtained in the previous Au QW state studies as well as for free-standing Au films.