Measurement of work function difference between Pb/Si(111) and Pb/Ge/Si(111) by high-order Gundlach oscillation

Ge films can be grown between the Pb overlayer and Si(111) substrate by the surfactant-mediated epitaxy. We detect the high-order Gundlach oscillation revealed in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to measure the work function difference between Pb/Si(111) and Pb/Ge/Si(111). Owing to different dielectric responses of Si and Ge, the tunneling current on Pb/Si has to be larger than that on Pb/Ge/Si by a factor of 2–3 to establish the same electric field in STM gap on both regions. This condition leads us to obtain a work function difference of 200 meV from observing Gundlach oscillation. It is believed that the method developed in this work can be extended to measure the surface work function difference of bulk conductors as well.