Biomedical subjects

M Scheffler

Publications and source records attributed to M Scheffler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Reaction-limited island nucleation in molecular beam epitaxy of compound semiconductors.

Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations on the basis of rates derived from density-functional calculations are used to investigate the atomic processes in molecular beam epitaxy of GaAs. This approach puts us in a position to describe island nucleation and growth in all relevant atomistic detail by bridging the gap in length and time scales between the mesoscopic scale of growth morphology and the atomic scale. We observe a nonmonotonic dependence of the island density on growth temperature related to a reversible surface reaction of As2 with Ga adatoms.

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PubMed2001

Role of electronic correlation in the Si(100) reconstruction: a quantum Monte Carlo study.

Recent low-temperature scanning tunneling experiments have questioned the generally accepted picture of buckled silicon dimers as the ground state reconstruction of the Si(100) surface, undermining the ability of density functional theory to accurately describe electronic correlations at surfaces. We present quantum Monte Carlo calculations on large cluster models of the surface, and conclude that buckling remains energetically favorable even when the present-day best treatment of electronic correlation is employed. The implications for experimental interpretation are discussed.

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PubMed2001

Atomic Structure of the Stoichiometric GaAs(114) Surface.

The stoichiometric GaAs(114) surface has been prepared using molecular beam epitaxy followed by annealing in ultrahigh vacuum. Based on in situ scanning tunneling microscopy measurements and first-principles electronic-structure calculations, we determine the surface reconstruction which we call alpha2(2x1). Contrary to what is expected for a high-index surface, it is surprisingly elementary. The (2x1) unit cell contains two As dimers and two rebonded Ga atoms. The surface energy is calculated as 53 meV/Å(2), which falls well within the range of low-index GaAs surface energies.

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PubMed2000

GaAs(001) surface under conditions of low As pressure: evidence for a novel surface geometry

Using density-functional theory we identify a new low-energy structure for GaAs(001) in an As-poor environment. The discovered geometry is qualitatively different from the usual surface-dimer based reconstructions of III-V semiconductor (001) surfaces. The stability of the new structure, which has a c(8x2) periodicity, is explained in terms of bond saturation and favorable electrostatic interactions between surface atoms. Simulated scanning tunneling microscopy images are in good agreement with experimental data, and a low-energy electron diffraction analysis supports the theoretical prediction.

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PubMed2000

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.

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PubMed2000

Island nucleation in thin-film epitaxy: A first-principles investigation

We describe a theoretical study of the role of adsorbate interactions in island nucleation and growth, using Ag/Pt(111) heteroepitaxy as an example. From density-functional theory, we obtain the substrate-mediated Ag adatom pair interaction and we find that, past the short range, a repulsive ring is formed about the adatoms. The magnitude of the repulsion is comparable to the diffusion barrier. In kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the repulsive interactions lead to island densities over an order of magnitude larger than those predicted by nucleation theory and thus identify a severe limitation of its applicability.

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PubMed2000

Effect of the environment on alpha-Al2O3 (0001) surface structures

We report that calculating the Gibbs free energy of the alpha-Al2O3 (0001) surfaces in equilibrium with a realistic environment containing both oxygen and hydrogen species is essential for obtaining theoretical predictions consistent with experimental observations. Using density-functional theory we find that even under conditions of high oxygen partial pressure the metal-terminated surface is surprisingly stable. An oxygen-terminated alpha-Al2O3 (0001) surface becomes stable only if hydrogen is present on the surface. In addition, including hydrogen on the surface resolves discrepancies between previous theoretical work and experimental results with respect to the magnitude and direction of surface relaxations.

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PubMed1999

Self-Assembly of Trisoligonucleotidyls: The Case for Nano-Acetylene and Nano-Cyclobutadiene.

Rapid cooling is the recipe for the self-assembly of nanostructures from trisoligonucleotidyls, a novel class of branched oligonucleotides whose 3'-termini are connected by a trifunctional linker. The topology of the smallest complex is formally equivalent to the topology of acetylene, if a DNA double strand is envisioned as a C-C bond. The model of nano-acetylene is shown.

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PubMed1999

Phonon- versus electron-mediated desorption and oxidation of CO on Ru(0001)

Heating of a ruthenium surface on which carbon monoxide and atomic oxygen are coadsorbed leads exclusively to desorption of carbon monoxide. In contrast, excitation with femtosecond infrared laser pulses enables also the formation of carbon dioxide. The desorption is caused by coupling of the adsorbate to the phonon bath of the ruthenium substrate, whereas the oxidation reaction is initiated by hot substrate electrons, as evidenced by the observed subpicosecond reaction dynamics and density functional calculations. The presence of this laser-induced reaction pathway allows elucidation of the microscopic mechanism and the dynamics of the carbon monoxide oxidation reaction.

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PubMed1996