Atomic-scale structures on a non-stoichiometric TiO 110/ surface 2 studied by noncontact AFM

We present atomic-scale structures of reconstructed phases of oxygen-deficient TiO2 110. observed by non-contact atomic force microscopy. This technique provided atomic structure of the surface terminated with added Ti2O3 rows including single oxygen atom vacancies. We successfully observed not only half steps alongw112xcaused by crystallographic shear planes belonging to 1324family but also novel half steps alongw001x. On the basis of the idea that the half step formation has close relations with both the CS formation and diffusion of segregated impurities, we propose a structural model for half steps alongw001x. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.