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Comment on Field emission as a probe of the surface density of states

Published

Author(s)

David R. Penn

Abstract

It is shown that the primary contribution to the field-emission current comes from electrons with total momentum equal to zero in a direction parallel to the metal surface and that the field-emission current measures the density of states at a point several angstroms from the metal surface. An explicit expression is derived for the error made in using the transfer-Hamiltonian technique to calculate the tunneling probability of an electron through a one-dimensional barrier, and it is pointed out that the error is small in the case of field emission.
Citation
Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
Volume
14
Issue
2

Citation

Penn, D. (1976), Comment on Field emission as a probe of the surface density of states, Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) (Accessed October 10, 2025)

Issues

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Created July 15, 1976, Updated February 19, 2017
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