Epitaxial silver layer at the MgO(100) surface

Abstract

The Ag/MgO͑100͒ interface has been studied by EXAFS. At room temperature, in agreement with previous investigations, silver at low coverage is shown to form a two-dimensional layer at the MgO͑100͒ surface. EXAFS data demonstrate that the lattice parameter of the silver overlayer is expanded so as to fit the MgO parameter to give rise to an interface having ͑100͒ Ag ʈ(100) MgO and ͓100͔ Ag ʈ͓100͔ MgO orientation. Interface Ag atoms are atop the oxygen atoms of the MgO͑100͒ surface at a distance of 2.53Ϯ0.05 Å.

MgO∕Ag(001)interface structure and STM images from first principles

“…23,33 More detailed measures for the oxide to metal distances are also available from different experiments. The interface distance MgO to Ag has been found to be 2.43± 0.02 by EXAFS, 32 2.53± 0.05 by GIXRD 14 and 2.39± 0.06 Å by LEED. 31 The latter authors also provide the values found in their calculations.…”

Growth of silver on MgO(001) and IR optical properties

“…Certainly a lot of experimental [1][2][3][4] and theoretical [5][6][7][8][9] studies on the growth of Ag films on MgO have been done. For example, the growth mode of Ag on MgO is always the focus of debate: some studies support that silver film show a three-dimensional Volmer-Weber growth mode [2,10,11] whereas A. M. Flank et al report that silver at low coverage form a two-dimensional layer on MgO(100) surface [12]. In this work we found an islandlike growth mode of Ag films at the various temperatures from about 70 K to 500 K. The average thickness at the percolation threshold exceeds several monolayers, also at 70 K, which clearly indicates threedimensional growth.…”

Low Temperature MOCVDof Conducting, Micrometer-Thick, Silver Films

“…It has also been commonly observed that doping with metallic silver improves the superconducting characteristics of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 films, [13,14] and the ferroelectric properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO 3 layers. [15] On the other hand, the theoretical structure of epitaxial interfaces between silver and oxides, such as Ag/(001)MgO, [16,17] or Ag/(0001)Al 2 O 3 has aroused some interest. [17] Silver films can be obtained by many non-vacuum techniques, e.g., electrodeposition, [18] electroless plating, [3] and photochemical deposition.…”

“…[17] Silver films can be obtained by many non-vacuum techniques, e.g., electrodeposition, [18] electroless plating, [3] and photochemical deposition. [19] The scope of suitable physical vapor deposition techniques is very broad: thermal evaporation, [16,20,21] DC sputtering, [22] magnetron sputtering, [23] pulsed laser deposition, [24] electron-beam evaporation, [24] and molecular beam epitaxy. [25] CVD is a good alternative to these techniques.…”