LEED observations on nitrogen adsorbed on (h11) stepped and (100) copp
er faces have shown the existence of two surface phases with a first o
rder transition. The first one corresponds, on the (100) face, to the
formation of an ordered stepped overlayer composed of alternating squa
re c(2 x 2)N island and bare copper of [100] atomic rows and on the (h
11) stepped faces, to an unusual nitrogen induced faceting into (100)
and (h'11) facets: the terrace width of these (h'11) facets decreases
with coverages and a (h11) stepped face (h = 65 +/- 4) with large (100
) terrace widths is observed. The second phase, in the ultimate state
of adsorption might correspond to the formation of a copper nitride su
rface layer in epitaxy on all the copper faces under investigation.