Growing extremely thin bulklike metal film on a semiconductor surface: Monolayer Al(111) on Si(111)

Abstract

We report combined scanning tunneling microscopy, x-ray photoelectron emission spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and theoretical study of the growth of ultrathin Al film on the Si(111) substrate. We show that by (i) a modification of the substrate reconstruction with a root 3 x root 3 surface and (ii) a choice of materials with commensurate lattices, atomically flat film can be obtained even at the ultimate one monolayer limit, while maintaining a bulklike atomic structure. Detailed analysis shows that this monolayer Al(111)-1 x 1 film is electronically decoupled from the Si substrate, and it shows metallic characteristics. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.