Initial stage of formation of a metal‐semiconductor interface: Al on GaAs(110)

A re‐examination of the experimental data and previous electronic structure calculations on the prototype system Al/GaAs(110), together with new calculations and models, indicates that at low coverages and temperatures neither a covalent bond nor a metallic bond is formed between Al and the substrate. Instead, the predominant species is likely to be Al clusters which interact only weakly with the substrate.