IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS-TuA

Paper SS-TuA10
The Surface Kinetics of the Initial Stages of Metal Oxidation Visualized by In situ UHV-TEM

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 5:00 pm, Room 121

Session: Metal Oxides: Structure and Photocatalysis
Presenter: J.C. Yang, University of Pittsburgh
Authors: J.C. Yang, University of Pittsburgh
G.W. Zhou, University of Pittsburgh
M.D. Bharadwaj, University of Pittsburgh
D. Evans, University of Pittsburgh
Correspondent: Click to Email
Copper has played a significant role in the development of oxidation theories, ranging from the classic oxidation studies of the epitaxial growth of the thermodynamically stable oxide scale to the surface science investigations of the dynamics of oxygen interaction with the bare metal surface. We are visualizing the initial oxidation stage of Cu thin films by in situ ultra-high vacuum (UHV) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) where we have varied temperature, oxidation pressures and oxidizing environment. In situ UHV-TEM provides unique information, such as real-time structural changes and information on buried interfaces, where extremely clean surface conditions are obtained inside the microscope. Based on our data, we have developed a semi-quantitative model of the initial oxidation stage where the dominant mechanism for transport, nucleation and growth of oxide islands is oxygen surface diffusion. We are presently examining other metallic systems, such as Aluminum.