Surface States, Surface Metal-Insulator, and Surface Insulator-Metal Transitions

Abstract

I present an informal discussion of various cases where two-dimensional surface metal-insulator structural and charge-density-wave instabilities driven by partly filled surface states have been advocated. These include reconstructions of clean semiconductor surfaces and of W(100) and Mo(100), as well as anomalies on the hydrogen-covered surfaces H/W(110) and H/Mo(110), and possibly alkali-covered surfaces such as K/Cu(111). In addition I will also discuss the opposite type of phenomena, namely surface insulator-metal transitions, which can be argued to occur on $α-$% Ga(001), high-temperature Ge(111), and probably Be(0001).