Symmetry-Induced Deformation and Reconstructive Phase Transformation in Metal-Oxide Interface : The Fe (001) example

Abstract

A model is proposed for the structural transformation and corresponding induced deformation in physical three-dimensional interface of the metal-oxide system. The thermodynamical and elastic state of the system is described by the Landau-Ginzbourg fiee energy. Calculated theoretical phase diagram shows several different types of isothermal growth processes. The model is applied to the case of the oxidation of the (001) Fe surface.