A leed-aes study of the structure of sulfur monolayers on the Mo(100) crystal face

The formation of ordered phases of sulfur on the molybdenum (100) crystal face has been studied by Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Thermal Desorption Spectroscopies (TDS). Sulfur was deposited from a S₂ molecular flux streaming out of an Ag₂S containing electrochemical cell inside the UHV chamber. The use of a controlled flux of S₂ allowed the careful determination of saturation values for the monolayer, as well as the formation of multilayers of sulfur. This allowed the calibration of Auger intensities in terms of sulfur coverage. Various ordered structures, c(2 × 2), (1 × 2), $\text{2}\text{1}\text{?}\text{1}\text{1}$ and c(2 × 4), were observed by LEED for different values of the S coverage. Real space models for these structures are proposed that satisfy the coverage values observed and place sulfur atoms only on high symmetry four-fold sites on the (100) molybdenum surface.