Dear Professor Walker:
I am writing to inquire about the availability of postdoctoral positions in your laboratory. My thesis
advisor, Professor W. Jones, who suggested that I write to you, informs me that you are initiating a research
program in spin-resolved-photoemission spectroscopy, and I would be interested in participating in this
research. I am currently a graduate student, and expect to receive my doctorate by this September. My
dissertation work is an electron spectroscopic, UHV study of metal interfaces with GaInP.
This work comprised a study of the Schottky barrier formation and morphology of metal overlayers on
GaInP. The nature of the metal/GaInP interface in of fundamental interest, as it is a prototypical example
of a metal interface to a pseudo-binary alloy for which the two cation-anion bonds differ greatly in stability.
Since very little work had previously been done in this area, my dissertation work investigated, in detail,
specific interfaces with various metals expected to show a wide range of behavior on GaInP. With this
information, I examined trends in interface behavior with respect to the properties of the overlayer metal to
gain insight into the driving forces determining interface morphology and surface Fermi level motion for
the metal/GaInP interface in general. I found that the weak Hg bond plays a critical role in the interface
formation, resulting in drastically non-stoichiometric interface morphologies not seen for such binary
semiconductors as GaAs.
As noted in my curriculum vitae, before joining Professor Jones' group, I worked for a short time with
magnetic surfaces and interfaces, and am especially interested in resuming work on this topic, using
spinresolved-photoemission probe. I believe the postdoctoral position in your lab will provide me with
the support and challenge for which I am looking as I continue this work.
A copy of my curriculum vitae is enclosed. Letters of recommendation are available from: Career
Development Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-3081, (650) 723-1548.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Mark Arnold
(650) 723-1427 (lab)
(650) 854-6844 (home)
