Electronic correlation effects and Coulomb gap in the Si(111)-$(\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3})$-Sn surface

Abstract

Electronic transport properties of the Si(111)-$(\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3})$-Sn surface formed on low doped Si substrates are studied using two-probe conductivity measurements and tunnelling spectroscopy. We demonstrate that the ground state corresponds to Mott-Hubbard insulator with a band gap $2\Delta =70$meV, which vanishes quickly upon temperature increase. The temperature dependence of the surface conductivity above $T>50$K corresponds to the Efros-Shklovskii hopping conduction law. The energy gap at the Fermi level observed in tunnelling spectroscopy measurements at higher temperatures could be described in terms of dynamic Coulomb blockade approximation. The obtained localization length of electron is $\xi =7$Å.

arXiv comment5 pages, 15 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Chiral spin texture in the charge-density-wave phase of the correlated metallic Pb/Si(111) monolayer
• Zero-bias anomaly in nano-scale hole-doped Mott insulators on a triangular silicon surface
• Charge density wave in single-layer Pb/Ge(111) driven by Pb-substrate exchange interaction
• Experimental observation of pseudogap in a modulation-doped Mott insulator: Sn/Si(111)-($\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}$)-R30${}^{\text{o}}$
• Phonon-induced electronic relaxation in a strongly correlated system: the Sn/Si(111) $(\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3})$ adlayer revisited
• The electronic structure of a doped Mott-Hubbard surface