Observation of the epitaxy, oxidation and surface structure of copper on thin gold films by high resolution electron microscopy

High resolution electron microscopy studies of the oxidation of vapor deposited Cu (<30 ) on thin single crystal Au films are reported. The metal/metal and oxide/metal orientation relationships are obtained for both the diffraction and imaging modes, before and after the Cu oxidation is significant. For the oxidized overlayers, two cases are observed: Cu(111) which transforms to three Cu2O(110) variants and Cu(110) transforming to (211) oxide overgrowth. A lateral displacement of the top Cu layer in the (110) stacking sequence is detected in the first case and atomic layering is observed in the 6-layer lattice structure of the Cu2O(211) orientation. © 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland Physics Publishing Division).