Surface states are electronic states found at the surface of materials. They are formed due to the sharp transition from solid material that ends with a surface and are found only at the atom layers closest to the surface. The termination of a material with a surface leads to a change of the electronic band structure from the bulk material to the vacuum. In the weakened potential at the surface, new electronic states can be formed, so called surface states.
Read more about Surface States: Origin of Surface States At Condensed Matter Interfaces, Tamm States, Extrinsic Surface States, Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)
Famous quotes containing the words surface and/or states:
“Just under the surface I shall be, all together at first, then separate and drift, through all the earth and perhaps in the end through a cliff into the sea, something of me.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“My opinion is that the Northern states will manage somehow to muddle through.”
—John Bright (1811–1889)