Surface characterization of self-assembled N-Cu nanostructures

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

Congreso; IVC-18, 18th International Vacuum Congress; 2010

We report on the process of low energy N2+ implantation and annealing of a Cu(001) surface. Through AES we study the N diffusion features 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 K < T < 700 K) 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, gaps along different azimuthal directions are determined by ARUPS. DFT calculations provide support to our conclusions.