XPD study of vanadium oxide films grown on the SnO2(110) surface

The oxide phases formed upon annealing at 800 K of ultrathin vanadium films deposited on the SnO2(110) surface have been investigated by XPD and other techniques. We found that the annealing in vacuum of vanadium layers resul ts in the oxidation of the metal carried out by lattice oxygen diffusing fr om the bulk of SnO2. The vanadium oxide phase formed in this way is epitaxi ally oriented with respect to the substrate and is covered by disordered la yers of tin oxide. The XPD results rule out the formation of V-Sn mixed oxi des. The simulation of the experimental XPD curves with SSC calculations pe rformed for various structural models indicates that the product of the oxi dation is a VOx approximate to 2 phase with a structure dose to that of the rutile VO2(110) surface.