Reactive growth of NiO ultrathin films on Pd(100): a multitechnique approach

Reactivegrowth of NiO ultrathin films on Pd(1 0 0) has been performed by evaporating metallic Ni in an oxygen atmosphere. The evolution of the ultrathin film is followed by means of low energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). The first monolayer (ML) of the deposited oxide develops as a completely wetting 2D overlayer with a c(4 × 2) periodicity, as shown by sharp LEED patterns and atomically resolved STM images. Further NiO deposition results in 3D NiO(1 0 0) islands formation on-top the c(4 × 2) superstructure, as shown by STM images and XPD data. Two layers thick islands are shown to be pseudomorphic to the substrate, i.e. characterised by in-plane compressive strain and interlayer expansion. LEED, XPD and STM give independent yet converging evidence that partial strain relaxation occurs within the third monolayer.