Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Mathematisch-Naturwissen­schaft­liche Fakultät - Analysis of Functional Surfaces

Analysis of Functional Surfaces

This group is dedicated to the analysis of oxide surfaces, in particular of semiconductor oxides, with electron spectroscopy techniques.

There is significant fundamental and applied interest in these materials: bulk crystals have a very high melting point, are transparent because of a large band-gap, but can develop charge accumulation layers at surfaces, whose origin is still debated. These compounds can be also artificially grown as thin films on appropriate substrates and because of the growth modes and energy relaxation processes, they possess different properties.

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, scanning-tunnnel microscopy are used to retrieve information on the surface composition, reconstruction and morphology, oxidation state and dispersion of the valence electrons.

Our goal is to understand the relationship between the electronic properties and thegrowth conditions, in order to build spin- and opto-electronic components of high quality and superior performances.