Real time observation of ultrathin epitaxial oxide growth during alloy oxidation
We have studied the thermal oxidation of the intermetallic alloy CoGa in situ, in real time on the atomic scale, during the growth of an ultrathin, epitaxial Ga oxide layer. On the basis of an extended set of surface x-ray diffraction data, density functional theory calculations and core level spectroscopy data, we find that the oxide film consists of an oxygen ion double layer, which contains the