Atomic View of O Chemisorption and Oxidation on a Cu(110) Surface by STM

There is a renewed interest in the investigations of chemisorption of Cu surfaces in an attempt to understand the formation of the Cu oxide. We have performed a scanning tunneling microscopy study of O chemisorption and initial oxidation on a Cu(110) surface. Even though this system has been studied for the last two decades, the chemisorption sites and the O induced reconstruction have not been determined. 

From our coverage dependence of the O chemisorption, we have determined that O atom chemisorbs at a long bridge site below ~ 0.35angstroms the first layer Cu, resulting in buckling of nearest-neighbor Cu atoms by 0.77+-0.10angstroms. The O atoms and buckled Cu row preferentially grow along the <001> direction. The tunneling spectroscopy study reveals that dispersive surface states (Shockley type states appeared on a clean surface) decrease with O. 

As O coverage increase to understand initial oxidation, strain develops around the O row with O indiffusion and surface roughening.