Unveiling the atomic and electronic structure of the VN/MgO interface

Abstract

We report a quantitative comparison of the interface structure of VN/MgO(001) using ab initio density-functional theory (DFT), aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). By HRTEM, we show an atomic resolution structure of epitaxially grown VN film on MgO with a clearly resolved oxygen and nitrogen sublattice across the interface. As revealed by DFT, the (002) interplanar spacing oscillates in the first several VN layers across the interface. Interfacial chemistry determined by EELS analysis shows the preponderance of O and V atom at the interface, resulting in a small detectable core-level shift.