Microscopy of Metal Oxide Surfaces

Abstract

AbstractElevated temperature scanning tunneling microscopy is used to study oxides that are room temperature insulators but become sufficiently electrically conducting at higher temperatures to allow imaging to be performed. Atomic resolution images of NiO, CoO, and UO2 have been obtained in this fashion which allow surface structure and defect determination. To complement the experiments, modeling of the electronic surface structure reveals which atomic sites give rise to the contrast observed in the images. Low voltage scanning electron microscopy is used to image small equilibrium pores in UO2 single crystals to evaluate the surface energy ratio of the (111) to (001) surfaces.