Title: surface states
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - surface states
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.S06190
Status: current

Definition
Energy levels localized in the surface region of semiconductors, which do not bear any direct relation to the bulk energy distribution, but which can exchange electrons with the bulk. In such a case a space charge may arise even when \(\sigma \) (the free charge density) is zero, i.e. \(\sigma =\sigma _{\mathrm{sc}}+\sigma _{\mathrm{ss}}\), where \(\sigma _{\mathrm{sc}}\) is the space charge density and \(\sigma _{\mathrm{ss}}\) is the charge density associated with the surface states.

Related Terms
- charge density: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00988
- space charge: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S05776
- surface region: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S06187

Source
- PAC, 1986, 58, 437. 'Interphases in systems of conducting phases (Recommendations 1985)' on page 443 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198658030437)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06190/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06190/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S06190/xml

Citation: Citation: 'surface states' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.S06190
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Accessed: 2026-06-12T09:17:03+00:00