A quantitative ion-scattering study of the Ni(110) surface during the early stages of oxidation

The adsorption of oxygen on clean Ni(110) has been studied at room temperature and at 475 K by Rutherford backscattering, using the effects of channeling and blocking, and lowenergy electron diffraction. At both temperatures successive LEED structures are formed at low oxygen coverage (?0.5 monolayer). With increasing oxygen content stoichiometric NiO is formed on top of the Ni(110) surface, at room temperature as an amorphous layer and at 475 K as patches of crystalline oxide, oriented with the NiO(100) planes parallel to the Ni(110) surface plane. At 475 K the nickel atoms in the interface region between oxide and substrate are displaced over a thickness of less than 2 monolayers. Based on the measurement of the oxide composition as function of coverage we suggest a modification of the island growth model as proposed by Holloway and Hudson for the Ni(100) and (111) surfaces.