Origin of a surface state above the Fermi level on Ge(001) and Si(001) studied by temperature-dependent ARPES and LEED

Variable temperature photoemission studies in the literature have revealed the presence of a surface state above the Fermi level on clean Ge(001). We present photoemission and low energy electron diffraction results from Ge(001) obtained between 185 and 760 K. Our measurements show a peak above the Fermi level with a maximum intensity at a sample temperature of around 625 K. At higher temperatures, we observe a gradual decrease in the intensity. Angle resolved spectra show that the surface state has a (k) over bar (parallel to) dependence and is therefore not attributed to defects. Very similar results were obtained on both an intrinsic (30 Omega cm) and a 10 m Omega cm n-type sample. The overall appearance of the spectral feature is found to be quite insensitive to sample preparation. Low energy electron diffraction investigations show how the sharp c(4x2) pattern becomes streaky and finally turns into a 2x1 pattern. The onset of the structure above the Fermi level takes place just before all c(4x2) streaks have disappeared which corresponds to a temperature of around 470 K. On Si(001), we also observe photoemission intensity above the Fermi level. It is weaker than on Ge(001) and appears at higher temperature. We find that the emission above the Fermi level can be explained by thermal occupation of the pi(*) band derived from a 2x1 ordering of asymmetric dimers on the surface.