Surface alloy formation of noble adatoms adsorbed on Si(111)-root 3 x root 3-Pb surface: a first-principles study

The geometric structures, stability and electronic properties of initial stages of surface alloy formation for noble atoms adsorbed on Si(111)-root 3 x root 3-Pb surfaces have been comparatively and extensively studied by using first-principles calculations within density functional theory. Our results revealed that an Au trimer rather than a tetramer adsorption induces a surface alloy by combining with Pb atoms in covalent bonds, exhibiting semiconducting characteristics due to the localization of surface states. The stability of the two-dimensional (2D) surface alloy obeys the Hume-Rothery rule. The electronic structures of the 2D surface alloy are sensitive to the number of Au adatoms and can be modulated by the quantity of Au adatoms. Unlike the Au atoms, our further calculations indicated that adsorption of Ag or Cu atoms on the surface cannot form a surface alloy with Pb atoms in the surface layer due to a weaker interaction or smaller radius.