Characterization of Thin MgO Films on Ag(001) by Low-Energy Electron Diffraction and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The evolution of the MgO(001) film morphology on Ag(001) was studied in dependence on the growth temperature (373−673 K) and grown MgO quantity (0.2−2 ML) by low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. We evidence an island growth mode of MgO for all temperatures. At 373 K, th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physical chemistry. C 2011-04, Vol.115 (16), p.8034-8041
Main Authors: Ouvrard, Aimeric, Niebauer, Johannes, Ghalgaoui, Ahmed, Barth, Clemens, Henry, Claude R, Bourguignon, Bernard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
C: Surfaces, Interfaces, Catalysis
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Summary:The evolution of the MgO(001) film morphology on Ag(001) was studied in dependence on the growth temperature (373−673 K) and grown MgO quantity (0.2−2 ML) by low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. We evidence an island growth mode of MgO for all temperatures. At 373 K, the MgO film exhibits a high island density, which is due to a too small surface mobility of the film compounds during the film growth. At a growth temperature of 673 K, silver hampers a perfect growth of MgO islands due to its high mobility, which leads to dendrites of MgO. The flattest and largest MgO islands are obtained at a growth temperature of around 573 K, which is a compromise guaranteeing a sufficiently high Mg or MgO mobility but also an enough low diffusion of silver.
ISSN:1932-7447
1932-7455
DOI:10.1021/jp1095823