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Step-edge-induced oxide growth during the oxidation of Cu surfaces
Guangwen Zhou1, Langli Luo, Liang Li
1Department of Mechanical Engineering and Multidisciplinary Program in Materials Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA. gzhou@binghamton.edu
Abstract:
Using in situ atomic-resolution electron microscopy observations, we report observations of the oxide growth during the oxidation of stepped Cu surfaces. Oxidation occurs via direct growth of Cu(2)O on flat terraces with Cu adatoms detaching from steps and diffusing across the terraces. This process involves neither reconstructive oxygen adsorption nor oxygen subsurface incorporation and is rather different from the mechanism of solid-solid transformation of bulk oxidation that is most commonly postulated. These results demonstrate that the presence of surface steps can promote the development of a flat metal-oxide interface by kinetically suppressing subsurface oxide formation at the metal-oxide interface.
