ARPES study of the surface states from Au/Ag(1 1 1): evolution with coverage and photon energy

The Shockley surface states formed on the (1 1 1) surfaces of noble metals have been extensively studied, but few reports exist on layered thin film systems. We present angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) results, recorded at normal emission in the photon energy range from 21 to 49 eV, which describe the behavior of these sp-derived surface states for Au layers epitaxially grown on Ag(1 1 1). Growth was performed at room and low temperatures. In both cases, the ARPES spectra are found to evolve from Ag(1 1 1)-like to Au(1 1 1)-like features as the thickness of the Au film increases. In particular, the surface-state binding energy shifts from the Ag(1 1 1) to the bulk Au(1 1 1) position, the shift being already evident at coverages lower than one monolayer. The origin of the changes observed in the surface-state peak as a function of Au coverage and photon energy will be discussed.