Origin of Fermi-level pinning and its control on then-type Ge(100) surface

Strong Fermi-level pinning (FLP) near the valence-band maximum on $n$-type Ge surfaces has been a long-standing challenge in semiconductor physics, and the nature of this phenomenon has been heavily debated for years. Here, we report a systematic synchrotron-based photoemission study of atomically well-defined Ge(100) surfaces and interfaces to elucidate the origin of FLP in such systems. It is experimentally shown that the FLP on $n$-Ge is not due to the dangling-bond, back-bond, and defect states, but is strongly contributed by the evanescent state of the Ge bulk. The conditions required for alleviating the FLP and even the implementation of a flatband structure on Ge(100) are formulated. Such a structure is realized in the BaO/Ge(100) system where one can obtain control over the Fermi-level position in the Ge gap. These findings are not only important from a fundamental viewpoint, but also open a route to producing Ohmic metal-insulator-semiconductor contacts for $n$-type Ge-based technology.