Oxygen-deficient SnO2(110): a STM, LEED and XPS study

The reconstruction process of SnO2(110) was investigated by scanning tunnel ing microscopy (STM), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and X-ray phot oelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The high-temperature 1 x 1 reconstruction cou ld be identified as an intermediate face, transferable either to the 1 x 2 surface by annealing to higher temperature or back to the 4 x 1 reconstruct ion by annealing again at lower temperature. In this way, a new method to p repare well-ordered 4 x 1 terminated surfaces is introduced and the O/Sn ra tio as well as the core-level positions of Sn 3d and O 1s were traced by XP S over a temperature range of 700-1200 K on freshly sputtered and on low-te mperature long-time annealed SnO2(110). STM images of the 1 x 1 surface sho w a new structure of in-plane oxygen, ordered locally in zigzag rows that c ontribute to the LEED pattern as a very diffuse 2 x 1 intensity. (C) 2001 P ublished by Elsevier Science B.V.