Scanning Force Imaging of Atomic Size Defects on the CaF2( 111 ) Surface

Michael Reichling , Clemens Barth (1, 2, 3)

1 AMU - Aix Marseille Université
2 CINaM - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille
3 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Cleaved (111) surfaces on CaF2 were imaged with scanning force microscopy operated in the dynamic mode in ultrahigh vacuum. Imaging the pristine surface reveals an atomic scale contrast with the structure expected for the fluorine terminated surface. We always reproduced the perfect surface periodicity never observing stable defects. However, after exposing the surface to 280 L of oxygen while constantly scanning, we detected stable atomically resolved defects that are assigned to OH2 groups incorporated into the surface. We could identify a jump of one of the groups from one atomic cell to the next. The observed contrast at regular lattice sites as well as at defects is discussed and qualitatively explained.

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Michael Reichling, Clemens Barth. Scanning Force Imaging of Atomic Size Defects on the CaF2( 111 ) Surface. Physical Review Letters, 1999, 83 (4), pp.768 - 771. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.768⟩. ⟨hal-01914820⟩