The Structure of Ultrathin Ag Films on Pd(111)

Abstract

We have performed ab initio density functional calculations of thin Ag films on the Pd(111) surface. We have calculated the structural properties and the electronic bands of the Ag/Pd systems. There is a band gap in the electronic density of states around the centre of the two-dimensional Brillouin zone of the Pd(111) surface, which makes possible the formation of localised states in the adsorbed silver films. We find that quantum well states may form at binding energies around 4 eV.