Surface characterization of self-assembled N?Cu nanostructures

LUCILA J.CRISTINA; JUAN C. MORENO-LÓPEZ; SILVANO J. SFERCO; MARIO C. G. PASSEGGI JR.; RICARDO A. VIDAL; JULIO FERRÓN

APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2011

0169-4332

We report on the process of low energy N2+ implantation and annealing of a Cu(001) surface. Through AES we study the N diffusion process as a function of the substrate temperature. With STM and LEIS we characterize the surface morphology and the electronic structure is analyzed with ARUPS. Under annealing (500< T < 700K) N migrates to the surface and reacts forming a CuxN compound that decomposes at temperatures above 700 K. LEIS measurements show that N locates on the four-fold hollow sites of the Cu(001) surface in a c(2×2) arrangement. Finally, a gap along the [001] azimuthal direction is determined by ARUPS. DFT calculations provide support to our conclusions.