2008/11/24 by C. A. F. Vaz, Hui‐Qiong Wang, H. -Q. Wang +21 · 43 citations
Chemistry · Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Annealing (glass) #Chemistry #Crystallography #Diffraction #Electron diffraction #Electron microscope #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #Epitaxy #Layer (electronics) #Low-energy electron diffraction #Low-energy electron microscopy #Materials science #Molecular beam epitaxy #Nanotechnology #Optics #Physical chemistry #Reciprocal lattice #Semiconductor materials and devices #Stoichiometry #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena #Thin film #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.susc.2008.11.022
published in Surface Science 603(2), 291-297 (Elsevier BV) · 8 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2008/11/24 · openalex publication_date 2008/12/05 · arxiv updated 2010/03/09 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The interface and electronic structure of thin (~20-74 nm) Co3O4(110) epitaxial films grown by oxygen-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on MgAl2O4(110) single crystal substrates have been investigated by means of real and reciprocal space techniques. As-grown film surfaces are found to be relatively disordered and exhibit an oblique low energy electron diffraction (LEED) pattern associated with the O-rich CoO2 bulk termination of the (110) surface. Interface and bulk film structure are found to improve significantly with post-growth annealing at 820 K in air and display sharp rectangular LEED patterns, suggesting a surface stoichiometry of the alternative Co2O2 bulk termination of the (110) surface. Non-contact atomic force microscopy demonstrates the presence of wide terraces separated by atomic steps in the annealed films that are not present in the as-grown structures; the step height of ~ 2.7 A corresponds to two atomic layers and confirms a single termination for the annealed films, consistent with the LEED results. A model of the (1 * 1) surfaces that allows for compensation of the polar surfaces is presented.