{"title":"Bias-voltage-dependent measurement of apparent barrier height on low-work-function thin film","authors":"K. Nagaoka, S. Ohmi","doi":"10.1116/6.0000436","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Using a scanning tunneling microscope, we have examined the effect of the bias voltage on the apparent barrier height. The sample used in this study was a nitrogen-doped lanthanum hexaboride film. We experimentally proved that a linear relationship exists between the apparent barrier height and the sample bias voltage. As a consequence, we estimated the work function of the film to be 2.35 eV by theoretical fitting. This value is in good agreement with that obtained by photoemission spectroscopy in a previous study. Our results demonstrate that the work function calculated through apparent barrier height measurements is guaranteed to be highly reliable in spite of the simple one-dimensional model. We anticipate that the sensitivity of the barrier height to the sample work function can be utilized for elemental identification on surfaces with characteristic work functions.","PeriodicalId":17652,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. B. Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. B. Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0000436","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Using a scanning tunneling microscope, we have examined the effect of the bias voltage on the apparent barrier height. The sample used in this study was a nitrogen-doped lanthanum hexaboride film. We experimentally proved that a linear relationship exists between the apparent barrier height and the sample bias voltage. As a consequence, we estimated the work function of the film to be 2.35 eV by theoretical fitting. This value is in good agreement with that obtained by photoemission spectroscopy in a previous study. Our results demonstrate that the work function calculated through apparent barrier height measurements is guaranteed to be highly reliable in spite of the simple one-dimensional model. We anticipate that the sensitivity of the barrier height to the sample work function can be utilized for elemental identification on surfaces with characteristic work functions.