Synthesis and characterization of ultra-thin MgO films on Mo(100)

✍ Scribed by Ming-Cheng Wu; Jason S. Corneille; Cesar A. Estrada; Jian-Wei He; D. Wayne Goodman

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 529 KB
• Volume: 182
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(91)90110-u

✦ Synopsis

Ultra-thin MgO films have been synthesized under UHV conditions by evaporating Mg onto Mo( 100) in various background pressures of oxygen. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) studies show that MgO films grow epitaxially in the 200-600 K substrate temperature range with the (100) face ofMg0 oriented parallel to Mo( 100). The one-to-one stoichlometty of the MgO films has been confirmed using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). A typical loss pattern, characteristic ofsingle-crystal MgO, has been obtained by high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS).

At low oxygen pressures, the MgO film grows via a mechanism of island nucleation with domains that coexist wtth metallic Mg particles. The heat of sublimation of three-dimensional MgO Islands is dependent on the oxygen pressure during growth and relates to the coordination number of the Mg cations.