Quantum metal film in the dielectric environment

Abstract

A method has been proposed for self-consistent calculations of characteristics of a metal film in dielectrics. The most interesting (asymmetric) case of metal-dielectric sandwiches, where the dielectrics are different on both sides of the film, has been considered in terms of the modified Kohn-Sham method and the stabilized jellium model. The spectrum, electron work function, and surface energy of polycrystalline films placed in passive insulators have been calculated for the first time using Al and Na as an example. It has been found that the dielectric environment generally leads to a negative change in both the electron work function and the surface energy. In addition to the size changes, the shift of the work function is determined by the arithmetic mean of the dielectric constants of the surrounding media.