Atomic and electronic structure of an unreconstructed polar MgO(111) thin film on Ag(111)

Atomic and electronic structures of a polar surface of MgO formed on Ag(111) was investigated by using reflection high-energy electron-diffraction, Auger-electron spectroscopy, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). A rather flat unreconstructed polar MgO(111) 1×1 surface could be grown by alternate adsorption of Mg and O₂ on Ag(111). The stability of the MgO(111) surface was discussed in terms of interaction between Ag and Mg atoms at the interface and charge state of the surface atoms. EELS of this surface did not show a band-gap region, and finite density of states appeared at the Fermi level in UPS. These results suggest that a polar MgO(111) surface was not an insulating surface but a semiconducting or metallic surface.