Effects of surface topology on the formation of oxide islands on Cu surfaces

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 04:00:00 EST 2005 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1861147· OSTI ID:20668246

Guangwen, Zhou; Liang, Wang; Yang, Judith C ^[1]

---

1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261 (United States)

We examined the effects of surface topology on the nucleation and growth of Cu{sub 2}O oxide islands during the initial oxidation stages of Cu(100) and Cu(110) surfaces by in situ ultrahigh vacuum transmission electron microscopy and ex situ atomic force microscopy. Our observations indicate that nucleation of three dimensional oxide islands on single crystal surfaces is homogenous, surface defects and dislocations play a very limited role as preferential sites for oxide nucleation. On the other hand, grain boundaries are the preferential sites for oxide nucleation and the oxide islands formed along the grain boundaries show a faster growth rate than that on flat Cu surface. The oxidation on the faceted Cu(110) surface results in heterogeneous nucleation of oxide islands in the facet valleys and one-dimensional growth along the intersection direction of the facets.

• OSTI ID: 20668246
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 97; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
COPPER
COPPER OXIDES
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DISLOCATIONS
EPITAXY
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
LAYERS
MAGNETIC ISLANDS
MONOCRYSTALS
NUCLEATION
OXIDATION
SURFACES
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TOPOGRAPHY
TOPOLOGY
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY