Negative electron affinity from aluminium on the diamond (1 0 0) surface: a theoretical study. (15th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: James, Michael C; Croot, Alex; May, Paul W; Allan, Neil L
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 30:Number 23(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-05-15
• Subjects: diamond -- DFT -- negative electron affinity -- surface; Condensed matter -- Periodicals; Matière condensée -- Périodiques; Vaste stoffen; Vloeistoffen; Natuurkunde; Electronic journals; Computer network resources; 530.4105
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/aac041
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-8984

Abstract

Abstract: Density functional theory calculations were performed to model the adsorption of up to 1 monolayer (ML) of aluminium on the bare and O-terminated (1 0 0) diamond surface. Large adsorption energies of up to −6.36 eV per atom are observed for the Al-adsorbed O-terminated diamond surface. Most adsorption sites give a negative electron affinity (NEA), with the largest NEAs −1.47 eV on the bare surface (1 ML coverage) and −1.36 eV on the O-terminated surface (0.25 ML coverage). The associated adsorption energies per Al atom for these sites are −4.11 eV and −5.24 eV, respectively. Thus, with suitably controlled coverage, Al on diamond shows promise as a thermally-stable surface for electron emission applications.