Many-body effects at metal-semiconductor junctions. I. Surface plasmons and the electron-electron screened interaction

The electron-electron screened interaction near the metal-semiconductor junction is calculated analytically by the introduction of model bulk dielectric functions which contain all of the essential energy and wavelength dependent features of the real dielectric functions of the metal and semiconductor. The poles of the interaction give the dispersion relations for the surface plasmon excitations at the junction and these are studied for various parameters of the two bulk media. It is shown that there are two possible plasmon modes characteristic of bimetal and metal-classical dielectric interfaces. Also, the role of surface plasmons in Schottky barriers is discussed.

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