Meyer T, Migas D, Miglio L
Laboratorium fur Festkorperphysik, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
Phys Rev Lett. 2000 Aug 14;85(7):1520-3. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.1520.
In ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM) the propagation of hot carriers in thin metal films has long been treated using a free electron model. While the model explains many experimental findings, it cannot account for the lateral resolution observed for both electrons and holes on epitaxial CoSi(2)/Si(111), where interfacial point defects of atomic size appear as small as 1.3 nm, even below a 5.6 nm thick film. We present ab initio calculations explaining this high resolution in terms of conduction (valence) band structure focusing of electrons (holes), according to a recent Green's function approach to the BEEM process.
