Role of photocurrent in low-temperature photoemission studies of Schottky-barrier formation

Abstract

Photoelectron spectroscopy is frequently used to study band bending in semiconductors due to charge stored in surface or interface states. This paper examines how such experimental results are modified by photovoltages generated within the band-bending region not only by ambient light sources, but by the incident x rays themselves. Recent experiments which have suggested dopant-dependent and reversible temperature-dependent band bending in the initial stages of formation of the metal-GaAs(110) interface are used as an example. It is shown here that the reported dependence derives from a photovoltaic effect.