Electron-phonon interaction in In-induced structures on Si(111) from first-principles

• Published in: Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP Vol. 23; no. 13; pp. 7955 - 796
• Main Authors: Sklyadneva, Irina Yu, Heid, Rolf, Echenique, Pedro, Chulkov, Eugene V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 07.04.2021
• Subjects: Density functional theory; Electrons; First principles; Mathematical analysis; Phonons; Superconductivity; Transition temperature
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/d0cp05234e

Electron-phonon interaction in the Si(111)-supported rectangular phases of In is investigated within the density-functional theory and linear-response. For both single-layer and double-layer structures, it is found that the phonon-induced scattering of electrons is almost exclusively determined by vibrations of In atoms. It is shown that the strength of electron-phonon coupling at the Fermi level λ ( E F ) increases almost twofold upon adding the second In layer. One of the reasons is that additional low-frequency modes appear in the phonon spectrum, which favors a strong enhancement of λ ( E F ). The agreement of the calculated parameter λ ( E F ) = 0.99 for a double-layer structure as well as the superconducting transition temperature T c = 3.5 K with experimental estimates indicates that the discovered superconducting phase is probably a double-layer rectangular -In structure on Si(111) with a coverage of 2.4 ML. This conclusion is also supported by good agreement between the calculated electron band structure and ARPES measurements. Electron-phonon interaction in the Si(111)-supported rectangular phases of In is investigated within the density-functional theory and linear-response.