Growth of Au on Ag(110): electronic structure by photoemission

Au films, from the submonolayer range up to eight monolayers, have been deposited in situ at 300 K. The electronic structure has been probed by ultra-violet valence-band photoemission. The discussion of our findings is based on a detailed knowledge of the geometrical structure of each film. With increasing Au coverage the valence-band structure changes from Ag- to Au-bulk-like. At intermediate Au coverages an interface state is observed. It appears to be localized between the first and second surface layer of areas where Au and Ag atoms are inverted. Moreover, the sp-type surface state observed for emission along Y in the case of the clean Ag(110) surface is strongly influenced by these inverted Au/Ag areas in that it shifts to higher binding energies. For higher Au coverages this surface state gradually fades out.