Oxidation processes of copper-gold alloy surface induced by supersonic oxygen molecular beam

Okada, Michio*; Tsuda, Yasutaka*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka ; Dio, W. A.*

We reported the our studies on the surface temperature (Ts) dependence of oxidation on the CuAu(111) surface by a supersonic O molecular beam, using synchrotron radiation X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Clean surface shows strong Au segregation to the top layer, i.e., Au surface enrichment of the clean surface. Complete Cu segregation to the surface occurs at 0.5 ML O surface coverage. The Au-rich second and third layers of the oxidized surface demonstrate the protective layer formation against oxidation deeper into the bulk. We found that CuO formation occurs. At Ts = 300K, the CuO growth is not so effective. The surface oxidation is less effective on CuAu(111) than on Cu(111). At Ts = 400K, the protection by the Au-rich layer against oxidation into bulk is effective. At Ts = 500K, the Au protective layer is broken due to effective Au diffusion and thus CuO grows deeper into bulk.