One important strands of the STM work at Warwick, using an Omicron micro-STM operating in UHV, is to study adsorbate-induced restructuring on metal surfaces. The focus of this work is adsorbate-induced surface structural modifications on metals, with an emphasis on vicinal surfaces and the inter-relationship of the structural phases formed on low index terraces and the propensity of the adsorbate to induce facetting on a microscopic or nanoscopic scale. Our first work in this area concentrated on the nature of the oxygen-induced facetting of vicinal Cu(100) surface (see recent publications below), trying to understand better the well-known oxygen-induced (410) facetting of such surfaces. The figure shows an STM image of a region (300 Å x 300 Å) surrounding a ridge between two different facets of {410} type - for further details of this and related images see our STM Image Gallery.

More recently we have been investigating the nature of N, thiolate and S-induced restructuring of other Cu surfaces, and, most recently, Ag and Au surfaces. This latter work forms part of a concerrted programme of work, also using the PhD and NIXSW methods, to try to gain a better understanding the interface structure of so-called self-assembled monolayer (SAM) systems of alkanethiols on these coinage metal surfaces

Visit our STM Image Gallery.

References

• P.Knight, S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, Oxygen-induced step-edge faceting; a precursor to (410) planar faceting of Cu(100) vicinal surfaces Chem.Phys.Lett. 259 (1996) 503-507
• P.J.Knight, S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff Missing rows on oxygen-covered Cu(100) vicinal surfaces: a scanning tunnelling microscope investigation J.Phys.:Condens.Matter 9 (1997) 21-31
• P.J.Knight, S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff Scanning tunnelling microscopy investigation of the oxygen-induced faceting and "nano-faceting" of a vicinal copper surface Surf.Sci. 376 (1997) 374-388
• P.J.Knight, R.Toomes, S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'Oxidation of the Cu(100)c(2x2)-Mn surface: epitaxial manganese oxide' Surf.Sci. 418 (1998) 521-8
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'Nitrogen-induced pseudo-(100) reconstruction of the Cu(111) surface identified by STM', Surf.Sci. 442 (1999) 1-8
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy Study of the Interaction of Dimethyl disulphide with Cu(111)', Surf.Sci. 457 (2000) 11-23
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'Adsorption structures of 1-octanethiol on Cu(111) studied by scanning tunnelling microscopy', Langmuir, 16 (2000) 6693-6700
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'A new pseudo-(100)-S reconstruction of Cu(111) observed by scanning tunnelling microscopy' Surf.Sci 479 (2001) 1-10
• S.M.Driver, J.-T.Hoeft, M.Polcik, M.Kittel, R.Terborg, R.L.Toomes, J.-H.Kang and D.P.Woodruff, 'Cu(100)c(2x2)-N: a New Type of Adsorbate-Induced Surface Reconstruction' J.Phys.Condens.Matter 13 (2001) L601-L606
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff, 'Methanethiolate structural phases on Cu(100) and Cu(410)' Surf.Sci.488 (2001) 207-218
• S.M.Driver and D.P.Woodruff 'Nitrogen adsorption structures on Cu(100) and the role of a symmetry-lowering surface reconstruction in the c(2x2)-N phase' Surf.Sci 492 (2001) 11-26
• S.M. Driver and D.P. Woodruff, 'Nitrogen-induced nanometre-scale faceting of Cu(410)' Surf. Sci. 560 (2004) 35-44
• Miao Yu, S.M. Driver and D.P. Woodruff, 'Scanning tunnelling microscopy investigation of the structure of methanethiolate on Ag(111)' Langmuir 21 (2005) 7285-7291