Study of the electronic and atomic structure of thermally treated SrTiO3(110) surfaces

The electronic structure of heated SrTiO₃(110) surfaces was investigated with metastable impact electron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (He(I)). Scanning tunnelling microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to study the topology of the surface. The crystals were heated up to 1000°C under reducing conditions in ultrahigh vacuum or under oxidizing conditions in synthetic air for 1 h, respectively. Under both conditions microfacetting of the surface is observed. The experimental results are compared with ab initio Hartree–Fock calculations, also presented here, carried out for both ideal and reconstructed SrTiO₃(110) surfaces. The results give direct evidence for Ti termination of the faceted TiO₂ rows. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.