HRAES, STM and ARUPS study of (5×1) reconstructed V(1 0 0)

The reconstructed V(1 0 0)-(5×1) surface has been studied by means of the field emission high-resolution Auger electron spectroscopy (HRAES), scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) using synchrotron radiation. The obtained HRAES data show that on the nano-meter scale the reconstructed V(1 0 0)-(5×1) surface contains intrinsic variations in the concentration of oxygen and carbon. The STM data reveal that the (5×1) reconstruction may show some structural alternations that have not been reported before, e.g., three-fold co-ordinated oxygen sites. In the limit of a small tip-sample separation a strong change of the relative contrast in the STM image is measured. It is correlated with the influence of the tip proximity on the local electronic structure of the reconstructed V(1 0 0)-(5×1) surface. From the photoemission data the valence band structure of the reconstructed V(1 0 0)-(5×1) surface is characterised. The results suggest that the part of the O 2sp band hybridises with the vanadium d states.