Symmetric versus nonsymmetric structure of the phosphorus vacancy on InP(110).
The atomic and electronic structure of positively charged P vacancies on InP(110) surfaces is determined by combining scanning tunneling microscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy, and density-functional theory calculations. The vacancy exhibits a nonsymmetric rebonded atomic configuration with a charge transfer level 0.75+/-0.1 eV above the valence band maximum. The scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images show only a time average of two degenerate geometries, due to a thermal flip motion between the mirror configurations. This leads to an apparently symmetric STM image, although the ground state atomic structure is nonsymmetric.
Ebert
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Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
Urban
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Aballe
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Chen
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Horn
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Schwarz
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Neugebauer
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Scheffler
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