Modification of the electronic transport in Au by prototypical impurities and interlayers

Abstract

Electronic transport calculations for metallic interfaces based on density functional theory and a scattering theory on the Landauer-Büttiker level are presented. We study the modifications of the transport through Au due to prototypical impurities and interlayers. Our results show that the influence of S and Si impurities is well described in terms of simple vacancies. Metallic impurities and interlayers, on the other hand, have even more drastic effects, in particular when the Au s-d hybrid states at the Fermi energy are perturbed. The effects of a possible interface alloy formation are discussed in detail. © 2010 EPLA.