Surface waves on Ag/V(1 0 0)

The electronic structure of 1–5 monolayer (ML) thick silver films on V(1 0 0) is investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy and compared to photoemission measurements. Using room temperature scanning tunneling microscopy in the constant current mode, standing waves were imaged for all film thicknesses. The Fourier transforms of the images were interpreted as surface Fermi contours. The 1 ML silver film shows particularly nicely developed contour with two strong isotropic contributions. The obtained Ag/V(1 0 0) Fermi contours are explained in terms of hybridization of silver sp quantum well states and the vanadium d band.