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Microscopy of Metal Oxide Surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

M.R. Castell
Affiliation:
Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
S.L. Dudarev
Affiliation:
Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
C. Muggelberg
Affiliation:
Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
G.A.D. Briggs
Affiliation:
Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
A.P. Sutton
Affiliation:
Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
D.T. Goddard
Affiliation:
Research and Development, BNFL, Springfields Works, Salwick, Preston, PR4 OXJ, U.K.
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Extract

Widespread application of metal oxides in catalysis, gas sensing, and as substrates for thin film growth has stimulated a strong interest in the atomic and electronic surface structure of these materials. The electronic structure of many metal oxide surfaces is characterised, and complicated from the theoretical modelling point of view, by the presence of strong on-site Coulomb repulsion (strong correlations) between valence electrons localised on the metal ions. Additionally, experimental studies have to deal with the difficulties associated with the electrically insulating nature of many of these oxides. We have overcome these problems through the development of novel experimental and theoretical techniques capable of providing structural and electronic information about strongly correlated insulating metal oxide surfaces.

The surfaces of NiO and CoO were investigated through elevated temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) thereby overcoming problems of low electrical conductivity of the samples.We show atomically resolved elevated temperature STM images of (001) cobalt and nickel monoxide surfaces obtained under similar conditions which show an order of magnitude difference in the atomic corrugation heights.

Type
A. Howie Symposium: Celebration of Pioneering Electron Microscopy
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1.Castell, M.R., Dudarev, S.L., Muggelberg, C., Sutton, A.P., Briggs, G.A.D. and Goddard, D.T.. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, 16 (1998) 1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Castell, M.R., Dudarev, S.L., Briggs, G.A.D. and Sutton., A.P. Physical Review B Brief Reports, to appear 15 March 1999.Google Scholar
3.Castell, M.R., Wincott, P.L., Condon, N.G., Muggelberg, C., Thornton, G., Dudarev, S.L., Sutton, A.P. and Briggs., G.A.D.Physical Review B, 55 (1997) 7859.CrossRefGoogle Scholar