Investigation of oxygen adsorption on Cu(110) by low-energy ion bombardment

The interaction of molecular oxygen with a Cu(110) surface is investigated by means of low energy ion scattering (LEIS) and secondary ion emission. The position of chemisorbed oxygen relative to the matrix atoms of the Cu(110) surface could be determined using a shadow cone model, from measurements of Ne⁺ ions scattered by adsorbed oxygen atoms. The adsorbed oxygen atoms are situated 0.6 ± 0.1 Å below the midpoint between two adjacent atoms in a 〈100〉 surface row. The results of the measurements of the ion impact desorption of adsorbed oxygen suggest a dominating contribution of sputtering processes. Ion focussing effects also contributes to the oxygen desorption. The ion induced and the spontaneous oxygen adsorption processes are studied using different experimental methods. Sticking probability values obtained during ion bombardment show a strong increase due to the ion bombardment.