Surface Reconstruction and Oxide Nucleation Due to Oxygen Interaction with Cu(001) Observed by In Situ Ultra-High Vacuum Transmission Electron Microscopy.
: Reconstruction of the Cu(001) surface due to oxygen gas impingement on a clean copper surface was directly observed by in situ UHV-TEM. Strain contrast between differently oriented surface reconstruction domains, assumed to be radical2 x 2 radical2 R45, were clearly visible by this method. The reconstruction precedes the nucleation of Cu2O islands. When Cu2O islands were partially reduced and then re-oxidized, a dwell time before formation of Cu2O was noted, demonstrating that a reconstructed Cu-O surface monolayer is necessary before oxide formation.
Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, 104 South Goodwin Avenue, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801
JC
Yang
M
Yeadon
B
Kolasa
JM
Gibson