Microfour-point probe for studying electronic transport through surface states

Microfour-point probes integrated on silicon chips have been fabricated with probe spacings in the range 4-60 mum. They provide a simple robust device for electrical transport measurements at surfaces, bridging the gap between conventional macroscopic four-point probes and scanning tunneling microscopy.

Measurements on Si(111) surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum reveal that the Si(111)-root 3x root3-Ag structure induced by a monolayer of Ag atoms has a four-point resistance two orders of magnitude lower than that of the Si(111)-7x7 clean surface. We attribute this remarkable difference to direct transport through surface states, which is not observed on the macroscopic scale, presumably due to scattering at atomic steps. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics.