Growth of TiO x overlayers by chemical vapour deposition on a single-crystal copper substrate

The deposition of ultrathin titania films by chemical vapour deposition from titanium tetraisopropoxide has been studied on a Cu(100) substrate using the surface analytical techniques of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The titania initially grows as a near-uniform layer with a well defined hexagonal structure, possibly related to the rutile structure. There is no evidence for a strong electronic interaction between the oxide overlayer and substrate. At higher exposures further growth at 600 K proceeds by 3D crystallite nucleation.