Abstract
Cerium oxide deposited by physical vapor deposition of cerium in an oxygen atmosphere on Cu(111) surface growth epitaxially with CeO2(1 1 1) plane parallel to the Cu(111) plane. The growth and morphology of CeO2(1 1 1) films were investigated by means of low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).
LEED shows good long range ordering and STM reveals a three-dimensional growth mode (Vollmer-Weber) with formation of a closed film only at larger thickness. Closed and atomically flat ceria films of larger thickness (3 ML) are obtained by applying a multistep preparation procedure, in which successive ceria layers are homoepitaxially grown on this initial film.
The ceria films show similarities with the morphology of CeO2(1 1 1) single crystal surfaces, suggesting the possibility to model bulk ceria by thin film systems.