Crater formation via homoepitaxy of adatoms dislodged from reducing oxide islands on metal surfaces

Guangwen Zhou, Weiying Dai, and Judith C. Yang

Phys. Rev. B 77, 245427 – Published 19 June 2008

Abstract

The reduction of ${Cu}_{2} O$ islands on Cu(100) surfaces under vacuum annealing leads to the formation of surface craters on the substrate surface surrounding the reducing oxide islands. These craters exhibit growth instability characterized by increased slope of both the inner and outer facets of the crater rims. We suggest that the crater formation and the growth instability are related to the homoepitaxial growth of Cu adatoms dislodged from the reducing ${Cu}_{2} O$ islands. Incorporation of such atomic processes in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations reproduces the morphological features of the experimentally observed craters.

Received 28 April 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.245427

Authors & Affiliations

Guangwen Zhou^1,*, Weiying Dai², and Judith C. Yang³

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering & Multidisciplinary Program in Materials Science and Engineering, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA
²MR Physics Center, Department of Radiology, Harvard University, Massachusetts 02215, USA
³Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA

^*Corresponding author: gzhou@binghamton.edu

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 24 — 15 June 2008

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics