Studies of the oxidation of Mo(110) : a method for nanowire growth

Abstract

In this dissertation the oxidation of the molybdenum (110) surface was studied at 900 and 1000 °C and 1 x 10-6 Torr oxygen pressure. Through the use of low energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and density functional theory (DFT) we have fully characterised the growth of the surface oxide phase as well as the 3-D oxide growth. It was found that a bulk-like surface oxide of Mo O2 (010) grows epitaxially on the surface at 1000 °C and 1 X 10-6 Torr oxygen pressure. LEED and STM data were used to give a detailed analysis of the oxide surface structure. From this experimental data, a model was built and through the use of DFT calculations, we showed that a strained bulk-like MoO2 (010) film is in excellent agreement with the experimental data.