Mapping the wavefunction of transition metal acceptor states in the GaAs surface

TL;DR

This study visualizes and compares the spatial structure of transition metal acceptor states in GaAs surfaces using STM, revealing their similarities and surface effects, which are crucial for understanding semiconductor and magnetic properties.

Contribution

It provides direct imaging of transition metal acceptor wavefunctions on GaAs surfaces and links their shapes to host material properties and surface symmetry effects.

Findings

Similar acceptor wavefunction shapes for Mn, Fe, Co, and Zn in GaAs.

The acceptor states are mainly antibonding and hybridized with host atoms.

Surface symmetry breaking introduces additional in-gap states.

Abstract

We utilize a single atom substitution technique with spectroscopic imaging in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to visualize the anisotropic spatial structure of magnetic and non-magnetic transition metal acceptor states in the GaAs (110) surface. The character of the defect states play a critical role in the properties of the semiconductor, the localization of the states influencing such things as the onset of the metal-insulator transition, and in dilute magnetic semiconductors the mechanism and strength of magnetic interactions that lead to the emergence of ferromagnetism. We study these states in the GaAs surface finding remarkable similarities between the shape of the acceptor state wavefunction for Mn, Fe, Co and Zn dopants, which is determined by the GaAs host and is generally reproduced by tight binding calculations of Mn in bulk GaAs [Tang, J.M. & Flatte, M.E., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 047201 (2004)]. The similarities originate from the antibonding nature of the acceptor states that arise from the hybridization of the impurity d-levels with the host. A second deeper in-gap state is also observed for Fe and Co that can be explained by the symmetry breaking of the surface.