Sm- and Yb-induced reconstructions of the Si(111) surface

Low-energy electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy, and photoelectron spectroscopy results from the submonolayer Sm- and Yb-induced surface structures are presented. Several similar metal-induced surface reconstructions are found to exist for Yb and Sm on Si(111) for low submonolayer coverages: 3×2, 5×1, and 7×1. At higher submonolayer coverage, Yb induces a 2×1 reconstruction while Sm induces a (√3 × √3 )R30°-like reconstruction. Yb is found to be divalent in all structures, whereas the Sm valence increases with increasing coverage. In the 3×2 structure only divalent Sm is present, in the 5×1 and 7×1 structures a small amount of trivalent Sm appears, and, finally, in the (√3 × √3 )R30° structure approximately half of the Sm atoms are trivalent. The surface Fermi-level position in the band gap for the different Sm and Yb reconstructions has been measured. The difference in valence stability between Sm and Yb is suggested to be the cause of the difference in the high-coverage structures found and the differences in pinning level for the two elements observed for the 5×1 and 7×1 structures.