Electron Confinement to Nanoscale Ag Islands on Ag(111): A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Lateral confinement has been suggested as a possible mechanism for depopulation of surface state levels and concomitant modification of metal surface related properties. Studies to date give conflicting accounts of the effectiveness of confinement due to scattering at step edges. We present a quantitative study of surface states on nanoscale Ag islands on Ag(111), using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and electronic structure calculations. These results confirm the validity of the confinement picture down to the smallest of island sizes.