Role of elastic scattering in ballistic-electron-emission microscopy of Au/Si(001) and Au/Si(111) interfaces

• Published in: Physical review. B, Condensed matter Vol. 43; no. 11; pp. 9308 - 9311
• Main Authors: SCHOWALTER, L. J, LEE, E. Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Woodbury, NY American Physical Society 15-04-1991; American Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Physics; Surface double layers, schottky barriers, and work functions; Monte Carlo method; Gold; Semiconductor materials; Mean free path; Crystal orientation; Elastic scattering; Polycrystal; Momentum; Transition metal; Ballistic transport; Experimental study; Transport process; Silicon; Ballistic electron emission microscopy; Schottky barrier
• ISSN: 0163-1829; 1095-3795
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.43.9308

A ballistic-electron spectroscopy, based on the scanning tunneling microscope, was used to probe the conservation of transverse crystal momentum at the Schottky barrier between polycrystalline metal and semiconductor. The Au/Si(111) interface is of particular interest because, for this orientation, all of the Si conduction-band minima will require a large transverse-crystal-momentum component for transmission. Using Monte Carlo calculations of ballistic-electron-emission microscopy (BEEM) currents which are compared with experimental data it is demonstrated that transverse momentum appears to be conserved for most of the observed BEEM current but that elastic scattering must be taken into account. This result implies that the spatial resolution of BEEM can vary greatly with substrate orientation and with the probability of elastic and inelastic scattering.