AES, LEED and STM have been combined to study the decomposition of NiO
(111) and NiO(100) thin films formed on Ni(111) after annealing betwee
n 500 and 700 K in UHV. The annealing of the two to four layer thick f
ilms leads to their partial decomposition and produces stable NiO(111)
crystallites and the Ni(111)-(2 x 2) phase of adsorbed oxygen. The de
composition of the NiO(111) thin films produces an intermediate (root
3 x 2) rect. phase assigned to 2D arrangements of residual NiO rows on
reduced Ni(111) planes, before the formation of the (2 x 2) adsorbed
phase. The loss of oxygen of the (2 x 2) adsorbed phase leads to the u
ncovering of the substrate terraces preferentially on the upper side o
f the steps, indicating a preferential removal of the oxygen atoms by
adsorption in the metal or reactive desorption at the ledges of the su
perstructure. The formation of a surface monolayer of nickel hydroxide
on the NiO(111) thin film shifts the observation of the early stages
of decomposition from 550 to 600 K with respect to the NiO(111) surfac
e covered by a monolayer of hydroxyl groups. This is attributed to the
increase of the film thickness resulting from the surface hydroxidati
on. The NiO(111) orientation has a higher resistance to decomposition
than the Ni0(100) one, which is already totally decomposed into the ad
sorbed phase at 550 K. This is assigned to the higher stability of the
NiO(111)/Ni(111) interface. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.
V. All rights reserved.