Thermal effects control the structure of the Cu(100)-C(2×2)N surface

Abstract

The self-organized Cu(100)-c(2 נ2)N surface has been used as an insulator in recent spintronics with control of atomic precision. The ab initio studies have been performed to investigate the properties of this system. It is found that the specific stability of CuN monolayer at the half of the saturate coverage can be explained by the stable filled shell of electrons. Meanwhile, our simulated scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images demonstrate that the protrusions are N atom. The shift of light spots from the stable hollow sites observed in experiments is related to the thermal oscillation of surface atoms, and the brightness of spots depends on the height of N atoms. However, the electronic properties of the Cu(100)-c(2 נ2)N surface are slightly affected by the temperature. Thus, CuN monolayers can be used as insulators in spintronics at elevated temperature.